Association Recognizes Company for the First Commercial Hydrokinetic License

Washington, D.C. (May 12, 2009) -- The National Hydropower Association is pleased to announce that it bestowed its prestigious President's Award on Hydro Green Energy, LLC, at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., today.

"Hydro Green Energy's project in Hastings, Minnesota, represents the first commercially licensed hydrokinetic facility in the United States," said NHA Executive Director Linda Church Ciocci. "This project opens the door to a whole new range of technologies and applications in the hydro sector. It marks a great step for Hydro Green Energy and a great milestone for our industry."

Church Ciocci noted that the project also demonstrates that hydropower facilities of all sizes can offer important economic, energy, and environmental benefits.

"In developing the Hastings project, Hydro Green Energy has created approximately 100 jobs, both directly and indirectly, in different regions of the country," Church Ciocci said. "Plus, it is providing clean, affordable, renewable energy to the grid with almost no environmental footprint."

Hydro Green Energy put its hydrokinetic power system in the water near Hastings, Minnesota, in January, just a few weeks after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project's license by a 5-0 vote. The company partnered with the City of Hastings on the project, which is downstream from an existing 4.4-megawatt run-of-river hydropower plant at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lock & Dam No. 2 on the Mississippi River. Hastings is the only hydrokinetic power project in the United States that supplies electricity to the power grid.

"'Going first' in an industry is always a huge achievement, but when you consider the technical, financial, logistical, and licensing hurdles Hydro Green Energy has had to cross to make this project a reality, you realize what an extraordinary feat this is and what an important step it is for our industry," said NHA's President Rick Miller. "It's a true service to the industry and the renewable-energy sector."

Hydro Green Energy's award marks only the third time in NHA's history that the association has presented the President's Award, which goes to an NHA member company that has "blazed new pathways to strengthen and invigorate the hydropower industry." Previous winners include Brookfield Renewable Power (formerly Reliant) and Verdant Power.

Hydro Green Energy has been a member of the National Hydropower Association since 2006. In addition to its work at Hastings, the company is pursuing waterpower projects in Alaska, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin.