Daniel Hufton, left, senior director of production for Pennsylvania American Water, and Geoff Bristow, state Department of Environmental Protection, discuss American Water's turbine that helps the company make electricity to run its plant in Summit Township.

SUMMIT TWP — The Pennsylvania American Water plant on Route 38 is using the inflow of water from its reservoirs to make electricity to run the plant.

More than three years ago, PAW began working on a plan to install a turbine and take advantage of the hydraulic energy being produced as water from the Lake Oneida and Thorn Run reservoirs enters the water plant.

Daniel Hufton, senior director of production, Friday explained the company is looking for renewable, alternative energies to make its operations more economical and more environmentally friendly.

The turbine cost $660,000, which was paid in part with a $180,000 state grant from the state Energy Development Authority, which is overseen by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Geoff Bristow, with the DEP, said the state agency looks for alternate energy projects that provide both or either economic development and environmental preservation.

“This project allows Pennsylvania American to offset power it purchases from the grid,” Bristow The turbine was built in about six months under the development of Rentricity, a New York company that has built several micro turbines in Western Pennsylvania.

Frank Bursic, Rentricity’s regional director, said his company has installed a turbine for a Westmoreland County water plant.

The Butler plant’s turbine is 15 feet below in the parking lot in a cement vault where the pipes carrying water from the two reservoirs come together.

Painted blue, the turbine is the size of a car tire, where the water pressure flowing through the pipe causes the turbine to turn, creating electricity before the water enters the treatment plant.

On Friday, about 4.5 million gallons of water would move through the turbine creating about 20 kilowatts of electricity per hour.

Since the turbine is designed to run 24 hours, seven days a week, Bristow calculated it can create 480 kilowatt hours of electricity per day or half of what the average household uses in a month.

“In the end, this will make about 4 percent to 5 percent of the plant’s electrical needs per year, and like anyone, we are looking for ways to save money when it comes to utilities,” Hufton said.

“And this is a renewable, alternative source of energy that would just be wasted if we had not completed this project.”