Beaverton's Sexton Mountain Pump Station is generating clean electricity from the city's own water pipes, and a national trade publication is now pointing to the project as a blueprint other cities should copy.
Smart Cities Dive featured the southwest Beaverton facility on Aug. 24, describing how the in-pipe hydropower turbine produces roughly 426 megawatt-hours of renewable electricity per year.
That's enough to power about 40 average homes and offsets approximately 27% of the pump station's total energy load.
The turbine captures energy at a pressure reduction valve where water pressure must be lowered before delivery. Instead of wasting that pressure drop, the turbine converts it into electricity that is net-metered back to offset the station's operating costs.
The city estimates the upgrade saves thousands of dollars annually.
The station itself is Beaverton's primary pump facility and the only one capable of lifting water to the Cooper Mountain reservoir.
The hydropower component was part of a broader two-phase overhaul that also added seismically resilient infrastructure, new booster pumps and electric vehicle chargers, according to Renewable Energy World.
The Energy Trust of Oregon covered about half the turbine's cost, roughly $450,000, plus approximately $100,000 for project studies and design work, according to the Beaverton Valley Times. That grant money comes from a charge on ratepayer bills from Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, NW Natural, Cascade Natural Gas and Avista, redistributed to efficiency and renewable projects statewide.
"When cities make investments and reach their climate goals, we all win," Dave Moldal, senior program manager at the Energy Trust of Oregon, said in the Beaverton Valley Times' October 2024 coverage of the project. "This hydropower project will make a big difference in cutting costs and offsetting energy use, and we hope other cities will follow Beaverton's lead …"
Beaverton is the second city in Oregon to install in-conduit hydropower in its water system, following Hillsboro, which completed a similar project in 2022. The League of Oregon Cities selected the Sexton Mountain station for a tour at its 100th Annual Conference, held Oct. 3, 2025, featuring Q&A sessions with Beaverton's public works director, city engineer and water utility manager.
The hydropower project is one of 86 actions identified in Beaverton's Climate Action Plan, which targets carbon-neutral city operations by 2030. Assistant City Manager Dan Weinheimer said in a 2023 Energy Trust of Oregon blog post that the plan spans waste management, transportation and water conservation.
The city's 2030 carbon-neutral deadline is less than four years away.
