Bill Gates-led Fund Invests in Startup That Built a New Hydropower Turbine
Natel Energy has developed a turbine that lowers construction costs for hydropower plants.
Natel Energy's hydropower turbine installed at the Freedom Falls project in Maine.
Source: Natel Energy
Hydropower—converting moving water into energy—is the single biggest source of clean power in the world, but relies on a 200-year-old technology that hasn't changed all that much. Natel Energy Inc., a California-based hydro power startup, has developed a new turbine that updates that technology, and now the company is raising $11 million in a funding round led by Schneider Electric Ventures and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a fund helmed by Bill Gates.
The turbine lowers the construction cost of power plants, because it requires less cement and steel. It also allows for safer passage for fish, which has become a stringent environmental regulation for these types of projects in both the U.S. and Europe.