NEHC is in the hydroelectric business—deploying modern Archimedes Screw Turbines (ASTs).
We evaluate, permit, engineer and build on existing dams and canals that still serve a valued purpose.
We operate and manage. More often than not, we own the operation and sell power.
We collaborate with cities and towns, private owners, river advocates, sports people, permitting authorities, and governments.
We believe in local, sustainable, stable power generation using renewable hydropower.
The protection of fisheries, stream beds, and wildlife are part of our mandate as a company.
The history and landscape of our rivers can be preserved and we will help to support that mission.
After generations of burning carbon-based resources, the world is looking to many alternative technologies and additional existing resources to alter that course. It's not a case of "all our eggs in one basket” but an array of renewable fuels bolstered by massive conservation efforts to secure a sustainable future.
NEHC's fuel is renewable rain and snow—predictable and quantifiable year over year, we study flows and floods over short-and long-terms to determine the viability of a given site. In looking at the landscape, we saw that thousands of small dams manage and store water as fuel. They have helped to power New England and many other states across America for generations, providing power for industry, containment for reservoirs, safety for towns and support for transportation and irrigation systems. Over 50% of dams in New England are situated next to mills, many still productive.
To take advantage of this for modern renewable power, we needed a "machine", and it had to be fish friendly and environmentally sensitive. In the Archimedes Screw Turbine, we found a solution. Based on a 2,000-year old idea, modern versions have pumped water up for a century keeping lowlands dry. For over a decade, since adding generation equipment to them and allowing water to run down through them in "reverse", they have made clean, renewable power.
NEHC has brought ASTs to the United States through a partnership of engineers and manufacturers in the UK and Europe where over 300 machines generate power.
