Hydro Green Energy (HGE) has installed the first commercial hydrokinetic turbine, and the second unit is to be placed around April at the site near Hastings, Minnesota.
First power is expected to be available from the project’s initial unit this month. The project only won approval of the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in December.
The units will be attached to a floating barge in the tailrace of the US Army Corps of Engineers’ Lock & Dam No2 on the Mississippi river. USACE approved the project in November. Each unit has a capacity of 35kW, said FERC, and HGE noted they nameplate capacities of 100kW.
FERC has said the project is important as it combines new technology with a conventional hydro power dam. USACE’s existing plant at Lock & Dam No2 has an installed capacity of 4.4MW.