A startup business that places small turbines in irrigation canals to generate electricity has raised $18.4 million to scale up its technology and generate carbon-free hydropower.
Emily Morris, CEO and founder of Emrgy, said her inspiration for making electricity in places that some people might find unlikely was seeing the vast network of U.S. irrigation infrastructure, with water swiftly flowing through it. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation alone operates 1,600 miles of main canals.
In the same way that putting solar on rooftops avoids disturbing the land, making use of existing canals means the hydropower turbines don’t have to be installed in the natural environment.
“Our infrastructure represents a new sector of renewable energy real estate,” Morris said in an interview.
Irrigation canals in the U.S. are made of concrete or stone and transport water from main sources to fields. Emrgy units look something like a propeller with blades rotating parallel to the ground. Water in the canals turns them and then flows past, without damming the water. The spinning turbines do change how the water moves through the canals, slowing it, so Emrgy works closely with water operators.