Hydropower is already the nation’s oldest and largest renewable energy source. It provides almost 10% of total US electricity and 2/3rds of all renewable output. Hydropower has many advantages over other renewables. Water is almost 1,000 times denser than air; so moving water carries enormous amounts of energy. And that power is available 100% 24/7 unlike wind and solar which only operate at capacity an average 25% of the time. But today the construction of big dam projects is being limited by growing concerns over economics, environmental and land. There is a sub-sector of hydropower, Small Hydro Power (SHP), which encompasses systems of 30MW or less and is usually in the form of a short diversionary dam with a long pipe leading down to a small generator house. Unlike giant wind generators, most SHP components are small scale and can be easily mass-produced. SHP systems also operate 24/7 and have relatively low visibility.  Currently SHP produces 3000MW in the US.

This year a new approach to SHP, hydrokinetic power systems, is reaching commercial stage. This novel power technology does not need a dam or reservoir but instead operates in the river where it converts river current directly into electricity. These systems are more similar to wind power turbines, but are many times smaller in scale due to the dramatically greater energy density of water. Hydrokinetic technology utilizes recent improvements in materials, structures, power generation and microelectronics. They have numerous advantages including less on-site construction, lower visibility, and shorter installation time. Bourne Energy, one of a growing number of hydrokinetic development companies, has distilled this technology down to a single self-contained power module, its RiverStar Series, which includes all the necessary components - generator, stabilizer, electronics, and power transmission. The advantages of this approach include reduced materials, parts count, size and weight. The cumulative energy consumed over each unit’s lifecycle is reduced thereby boosting its total energy output. RiverStar is designed to interconnect to form power arrays, which can be stretched across and down a river to build large multi-megawatt energy farms. Each integrated unit uses a build-for-assembly design composed of materials, structures and parts similar to those used in the automotive industry. Each RiverStar collapses into long, thin, lightweight shipping modules that can be transported to river sites, installed and in operation in as short a time as a month.