How we Do It

New England Hydropower combines a highly analytic culture across many disciplines with practical,
"can do" project execution.
Proven Machines

Our two technologies have been successfully deployed in the U.S., Europe and other parts of the world for over a decade.

Regulatory/Permitting

Our in-house regulatory and permitting team has many years experience working with Federal, State, and local agencies and governments.

Outreach

We provide experienced outreach to agencies, environmental and river organizations, and others toward mutually beneficial, low-impact hydro generation.

Engineering

Our NEHC engineers manage the design and engineering process for each project, working with leading engineering and construction companies.

Value and cost

Our financial analysis and modeling helps determine the viability of individual sites by balancing the cost of permitting, interconnection, construction with electricity pricing.

Site Selection

It is one thing to find a site that will generate power by analyzing river flow, head, river cycles, appropriate equipment size, and other elements. It is another to understand how to bring a site to fruition considering history, permitting challenges, distribution, price, and green energy incentives.
We do it well.

Owner Interface

There are many categories of potential owners--municipal, state, private, corporate, non-profit--and each have different profiles with different goals. It is our job to match each goal with our own to generate clean electricity.

Operations and Maintenance

We operate existing plants including preventative maintenance and emergent repairs. We supervise  dam safety, environmental and regulatory compliance, and we prepare and undertake emergency action plans.

Get in Touch with Us

Knowledge and Experience Drive Success.

We combine site knowledge—annual flows, potential head, available space, interconnection viability--with one of our two technologies to find the best solution for generating stable, green, low impact electricity.

Winter view of Hanover Pond Hydro Installation

Low-impact, small-scale hydropower

The world is faced with finding new ways to deliver renewable energy on the one hand, and protecting the environment on the other. The equation is complex whatever the technology and energy source, and NEHC believes that small-scale hydropower is a complement to either solar or wind—and far more productive based on capacity utilization factors. Accounting for dry summers and frozen winter periods in the Northeast, NEHC can produce power at about 50%-80% capacity factors in rivers and canals—several times the capacity of wind and solar. The fuel—water—is plentiful and in run-of-river circumstances our systems do not deplete water or change the flow dynamics. The overall river flows remain unchanged.

The best approach for each site

Every hydropower site is different. The physical circumstances--space limitations, distance to connectivity, flood requirements--as well as the social interests--fish protection, historical elements, recreational activities--are all part of the calculus of a site.

We can chose between a range of turbines and technologies from our partners to ensure the best implementation.

Water gushing out of an Archimedes Screw Turbine

NEHCs in-house expertise and experience drive development for our own sites or for those who wish to own their own sites.

NEHC works with owners to establish the best approach to site development. Each site has different parameters, and while there are parallels between sites, each presents variables in geology, flow, history, finance, permit approach,  wildlife, constituent base, scale, and ownership goals.

Recognizing broad differences in situations, NEHC’s primary aspiration is to develop, build and operate low-impact, hydropower facilities. Our ability to finance, permit, construct, and market power on a scale that is commercially viable is determined by all of these and other factors.

Renewable, green, zero-emission goals while generating income

Often, smaller sites can be developed independently by owners whose primary aspirations are to develop small-scale hydro in support of renewable, green, zero-emission goals while generating income.

NEHC supports owner’s interests on a fee-for-service basis from initial site review to final commissioning. After an initial, “quick look” to determine viability of even very small sites, we will provide:

  • A phased approach to review the site and costs affiliated it.
  • Align with the owner’s goals to determine interest.
  • Typically, the next phase would include a site visit resulting in a baseline feasibility study to reveal the conservative potential of the site, permitting viability, hurdles to development, potential grant access for development, and an initial cost analysis.
  • If agreed, NEHC would develop a comprehensive plan for the site.
  • NEHC could manage the permitting, public interface, design, construction oversight, grid interconnection and commissioning at the owner’s discretion and acceptance of a fee-for-service contract.

Featured Projects

NEHC’s projects span a broad variety of flow conditions, infrastructure and social interests from run-of-river sites in Connecticut and Rhode Island to historic coal barge canals in Pennsylvania.

Restoring North America’s original renewable energy resource.TM