Mini hydro company raises $18M to generate power in canals

Emily Morris, CEO and founder of Emrgy, said her inspiration for making electricity in places that some people might find unlikely was seeing water swiftly flowing through the vast network of U.S. irrigation infrastructure. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation alone operates 1,600 miles of main canals.

Irrigation canals in the U.S. are made of concrete or stone and transport water from main sources to fields. Emrgy units look something like a propeller with blades rotating parallel to the ground. Water in the canals turns them and then flows past; there is no dam. The spinning turbines do change how the water moves through the canals, slowing it, so Emrgy works closely with water operators.

An installation is made up of modules that each generate 5-25 kilowatts, but Morris said the company would never deploy a single turbine, just as a solar company would not install a single solar panel on a roof. Traditional large-scale hydropower projects have faced scrutiny for their environmental impact, including submerging communities, slowing rivers, and blocking fish migration. Some are being demolished. On the other hand, they generate enormous amount of energy, as long as it rains and snows.

Emrgy’s systems are currently in use at Denver Water, Oakdale Irrigation District in California, a district in Salt Lake City and one in New Zealand. The company has a pilot in South Africa and is expanding.

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Mini hydro company raises $18M to generate power in canalsA startup business that places small turbines in irrigation canals to generate electricity has raised $18.4 million to scale up its technology and generate carbon-free hydropower
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Mini hydro company raises $18M to generate power in canalsA startup business that places small turbines in irrigation canals to generate electricity has raised $18.4 million to scale up its technology and generate carbon-free hydropower. Emrgy’s installations are very small in the commercial sense — between 2 and 10 megawatts. But that’s approximately enough to power a neighborhood or a small campus. Energy experts say small amounts can add up, and it's a system that makes clean electricity without disturbing the environment. wanna place my small turbine in your canal. should put them in sewers - also those small turbine fans do well on motorways. It'd be dope if you could put a turbine in a canal siphon but I imagine that it, like these, would be a maintenance pain in the ass with debris getting lodged in them.
La source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Lire la suite »