WESTMONT, IL — (Marketwire) — 09/08/11 — Hydro Green Energy, LLC (HGE), a renewable energy company with proprietary hydropower technology, today announced that it has been selected to receive $1.8 million in Federal funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for advanced research, development and deployment of its low-head hydropower turbine and modular hydropower system. HGE was the recipient of two DOE grant awards through a competitive public solicitation.
“We are honored that the Department of Energy chose Hydro Green Energy to receive R&D funding,” said Michael P. Maley, President & CEO of HGE. “These grants are extremely important because they will help us improve and finalize our turbine design during difficult economic times and increase our ability to create clean power and American jobs.”
The grants from DOE will help HGE complete the design of its advanced, second generation hydropower turbine and assist in the deployment of HGE–s next hydropower facility. HGE–s modular hydropower system minimizes the costs and environmental impacts of conventional hydropower. Working with HGE on the grant-driven projects are highly respected organizations from the hydropower and energy sectors, including HDR (engineering and regulatory), Mechanical Solutions, Inc. (turbine design) and Alden Research Laboratory (turbine testing and environmental analysis).
“Given that nearly all of our proposed hydropower projects are located at United States Army Corps of Engineers– (USACE) non-powered dams, DOE is ensuring through its grants that the valuable infrastructure of its sister agency grows in value with the addition of clean, low-impact hydropower,” said Mr. Maley. “The DOE grants highlight how private businesses and the Federal government can work together to achieve common goals. We look forward to making sure that the DOE funding is well spent and delivers results to the American electricity consumer.”
Hydro Green Energy holds permits for the development of 280 megawatts (MW) of new hydropower capacity at 28 sites in 13 states, equivalent to the energy production from approximately 1,000 MW of solar power or approximately 800 MW of wind power. HGE–s current projects will annually avoid 2.2 billion pounds of carbon emissions and provide enough annual power for approximately 161,000 homes. HGE has permits processing on another 250 MW of capacity. At each of the 28 project sites, HGE expects to create approximately 140 jobs during development.
In August 2011, HGE initiated the process to obtain operating licenses from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for seven hydropower projects in the Midwest Independent System Operator (MISO) service territory. HGE will soon be filing paperwork at FERC for seven additional projects in the United States. Hydro Green Energy moved its headquarters to the Chicago area in May 2011 after closing a new round of financing.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Mark R. Stover
Vice President of Corporate Affairs
Hydro Green Energy
(877) 556-6566 x-711