The company closed a US$2.6M funding round led by renewables investor Quercus Trust and said it is ready to deploy its patented hydrokinetic technology in a number of projects in the US.
HGE has 13 preliminary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for projects in Alaska and Mississippi. The firm’s first project, in Minnesota on the Mississippi river, is scheduled to be operational by late August, which it said will be the country’s first commercially operational, FERC-licences hydrokinetic plant.
It also has other potential schemes in development in other states – such as those to produce 100MW of power at some US Army Corps of Engineers’ dams on the Mississippi river. Four permits were issued by FERC in 2007 for possible hydrokinetic projects at the Corps’ dams at Arkabutla, Enid, Grenada and Sardis, each with three-year exclusive rights for hydro development at the sites.
HGE said its technology will not involve dams, impoundments, conduits and other infrastructure as the technology utilises free flowing water in rivers, tides and ocean currents.
