In 2019 Tony Grassi, owner of The Mill at Freedom Falls, partnered with Natel to install the first Restoration Hydro Turbine, retrofitting a once-purposeless sawmill with enough power to meet the needs of the small community of Freedom, Maine.
Like Tony's Mill, there are hundreds of existing small dams in the United States that are no longer being used as a power source or were constructed for non-power purposes. By retrofitting them with FishSafe hydro turbines, Natel is working with communities to leverage the infrastructure they already have to generate new, clean energy that could deliver close to 10 percent of the country's energy demand, while restoring safe downstream fish passage.
The company will install up to 90 of its Restoration Hydro Turbines at three non-powered dams
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Sept. 28, 2021 — Natel Energy, a supplier of sustainable hydropower solutions, announced today it will develop, finance and construct three non-powered dam sites along Louisiana’s Red River in partnership with Nelson Energy, a Minneapolis-based firm that has successfully developed and licensed over $250 million of hydroelectric projects in the U.S. With Nelson Energy as an advisory partner, Natel will install between 60 and 90 of its flagship product, the Restoration Hydro Turbine (RHT), to retrofit three existing dams and add 80 MW of renewable power to the grid — enough energy to power 35,960 average US homes each year.