New Hydrokinetic Power Project for Old Muddy

The Mississippi River will be the site of a first-of-its-kind project aimed at harnessing the river’s flow to create energy without dams or diversions.

Houston-based Hydro Green Energy LLC said Monday that it has received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to install two 100-kilowatt hydrokinetic power units in the river. The idea is to harness the river’s flow to spin a turbine without the need to dam the river

One unit will be installed this month and the second in April, and both will provide power to the town of Hastings, Minn., about 20 miles downstream from Minneapolis, the company said.

Hydroelectric dams provided about 7 percent of the United State’s electricity in 2006, by far the largest share of any renewable energy source, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.

But dams also block the migration of salmon and other fish species and wreak havoc on river ecosystems, causing many environmentalists to question their green credentials.

Hydro Green is hoping its hydrokinetic power station won’t cause such problems. The company said it will study its technology’s impacts, which modeling indicates will have “no water quality and possibly no fish mortality impacts.”

Hydro Green landed $2.6 million in a Series A round in April, led by The Quercus Trust (see The Secret Life of the Quercus Trust).

The company is now raising a Series B round to fund company growth and “an agressive defense of the company’s intellectual property,” the company announced Monday. CEO Wayne Krouse told Earth2Tech in August that Hydro Green was looking for $70 million for its second round.

Hydro Green said it’s working on other hydrokinetic power projects in Alaska, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New York and Texas. Harnessing the power of ocean tides is also on the company’s agenda, which puts it in the company of such startups as SMD Hydrovision, Marine Current Turbines, Open Hydro and Ocean Renewable Power (see Tide Turning for Ocean Power?)