Your control valves are throwing away electricity.
Every pressure-reducing valve in a water network turns pressure into heat. A turbine in a parallel bypass line turns the same pressure into clean, meterable electricity — while the valve stays in place as backup. We find the sites, prove the case and coordinate the installation.
Request a feasibility check See how it worksHow much power is behind your valve?
Turbine-to-wire efficiency 70 %, grid factor 0.4 t CO₂/MWh, 5.3 MWh per household. Velocity in real valves is usually 3–6 m/s; 2 m/s is our conservative planning value.
The valve stays. The energy stops going to waste.
A bypass line is installed around the existing control valve. The turbine in that line becomes the primary pressure-reducing element and regulates downstream pressure to the same set-point as before. If the bypass is isolated, the original valve takes over instantly.
- Any mechanically clean water
Drinking water, raw-water transmission, irrigation mains, industrial supply. Wetted parts are certified to the potable-water standard your network requires.
- DN150 to DN1400, from 1.5 bar
Depending on size, flow and pressure drop a single valve recovers between 5 and 5,000 kW — for as long as the valve is in operation.
- The right turbine, not one product
Francis, Kaplan, Pelton, Turgo or crossflow — chosen from the hydraulics of your site, supplied by established manufacturers, installed by contractors you already trust.
- Worth most where you already use power
A kilowatt-hour consumed at your own pumping station or treatment works is worth two to four times an exported one. We prioritise those sites.
We do the part nobody else does: from valve inventory to running turbine.
Equipment makers sell a turbine. Water utilities have never built one. Bypass Energy is the specialist in between — technology-neutral, paid mainly on success, and your single point of contact through the whole project.
Identify
We screen your control valves and pressure-reduction points with the flow and pressure data you already log.
Assess
A feasibility study per site: turbine type, pressure-control concept, energy yield, capex estimate and payback.
Propose
One coherent proposal with real prices from the turbine supplier and the installation contractor.
Coordinate
Design, installation and commissioning coordinated across client, suppliers and contractor — one point of contact.
Train
Your operators learn the bypass system, the pressure-control logic and the generator before we hand over.
Support
Performance review against the study, troubleshooting, and screening of the next sites in your network.
Where we work, and how the electricity pays.
- Saudi ArabiaSelf-consumption at NWC and SWA sites; surplus under SERA net billing
- United Arab EmiratesSelf-consumption at pumping stations and treatment works
- United KingdomSelf-consumption; export via Smart Export Guarantee or PPA
- Germany, Austria, SwitzerlandEEG feed-in tariff (DE), investment contributions (CH), or self-consumption
- NorwaySelf-consumption or spot-market sale via the local grid company
The technology is not new. Switzerland runs around a hundred drinking-water power plants, and Scottish Water generates at more than 28 of its assets. What is new is bringing it to networks where nobody has asked the question yet.
Besides the electricity, operators get finer pressure modulation across their metered areas, smoother transients on ageing mains, and chambers that stay powered when the grid goes down.
Fifteen years inside control valves, then turbines.
Khaled Malouf
Founder and Managing Director
BackgroundCivil engineer. Control-valve development at ERHARD Armaturen, turbine sales and project engineering at STELLBA Hydro, product management for valves and energy-recovery projects at HAWLE Austria Group.
LanguagesArabic, English, German
CompanyBypass Energy UG (haftungsbeschränkt), Germany — founded November 2026
Bypass Energy exists because energy recovery in water networks needs someone who understands both sides of the bypass. A valve engineer knows how the network is pressure-managed and where the drop is. A turbine engineer knows which machine can take that drop and still hold the downstream set-point. Very few people have done both jobs; Khaled Malouf has.
We are deliberately small and technology-neutral. We do not sell a turbine of our own, we are paid mostly when a project goes ahead, and we say no when a site does not pay back. That is what keeps the feasibility study honest.
We work through partners who already hold your trust — valve distributors, contractors and engineering firms in each market — and with established turbine manufacturers in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK.
Questions water utilities ask us first
Does the turbine replace my control valve?
No. The turbine sits in a parallel bypass line and takes over pressure reduction during normal operation. The existing valve stays fully functional and takes over the moment the bypass is isolated.
Which valves are worth looking at?
Control valves and pressure-reducing valves from DN150 to DN1400 with a pressure drop of 1.5 bar or more and a continuous or predictable flow — typically district feeders, reservoir inlets and transmission take-offs. A DN400 valve at 3 bar recovers around 50 kW at our conservative planning velocity.
Is the water quality affected?
No. All wetted parts are specified to the potable-water certification your network requires — DVGW W270 and KTW-BWGL in Germany, WRAS in the UK, SASO in Saudi Arabia, NSF/ANSI 61 — and the turbine is built accordingly.
How is the electricity used or sold?
Most valuable is self-consumption at your own pumping stations, treatment works or valve chambers, which displaces purchased electricity at the full tariff. Surplus can be exported under the scheme in your market — for example EEG feed-in in Germany, the Smart Export Guarantee in the UK or net billing in Saudi Arabia.
What does a project cost and how quickly does it pay back?
Installed cost typically falls from about €5,000 per kW for small sites to under €2,500 per kW above 500 kW. Simple payback ranges from around two years where the power is self-consumed at European tariffs to six or more years where it is exported at low rates. The feasibility study gives the figure for your site.
How does Bypass Energy get paid?
Mainly on success: a commission from the turbine supplier and a provision from the installation contractor when the project goes ahead, plus fixed fees for feasibility studies, training and support. Commission arrangements are disclosed in every proposal.
Send us one valve. We'll tell you what it's worth.
A first assessment needs only the valve size, the pressure upstream and downstream, and a typical flow. We reply with a locked-energy estimate and a view on whether a feasibility study is worth it.
Write to info@bypass.energy- Valve size (DN) and location type
- Upstream and downstream pressure
- Typical and minimum flow
- Nearby electrical loads, if any