First US Hydrokinetic Project

The first federally licensed in-stream hydrokinetic power project in the United States began operating commercially this August on the Mississippi River in Hastings, Minnesota. Hydrokinetic projects produce power from moving water without the use of a dam, and they include wave energy systems and in-stream turbines, which can capture the energy from tidal flows or the flow of a river. The Hastings project, an in-stream turbine from Hydro Green Energy, captures the flow from the output channel of an existing hydropower dam.

The turbine, anchored downstream from the dam on a tethered barge, has a nameplate capacity of 100 kilowatts, and an expected output of about 35 kilowatts. After approval of the project by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last December, the turbine was quickly installed on the barge and has been undergoing testing since mid-February.

EERE Network News
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/enn.cfm