Is the Mississippi River the Next Source of Renewable Electricity for the State?

Arrays of poles with several turbines like these would be sunk into the bottom of the Mississippi River at 55 specific sites to generate electricity, if Free Flow Power gets federal approval.

In a couple of years, the Mississippi River could become an underwater wind farm, generating electricity for industries and homes. MPB’s Cari Gervin reports.

Jon Guidroz is trying to get everyone organized.

“Anyone not have a packet?”

He’s standing on the banks of the Mississippi River in Tunica County in front of a team of engineers, scientists and environmentalists.

“Let’s get our, our bearings here… if you want to go to the third page…"

Guidroz is trying to explain how the broad swath of water flowing behind the group can provide enough electricity for more than a million homes.

Well, that water – and 180,000 underwater turbines placed at 55 strategic locations between St. Louis and New Orleans. Guidroz is the director of project development at Free Flow Power, a start-up company out of Massachusetts.

“I mean, I think that hydrokinetics is sort of where wind was 15 or 20 years ago, and I think that we’re talking about a zero-emission, fish-friendly, no-adverse-environmental impact technology that could go around the world and generate electricity at a much more impressive scale than any other qualified renewable at this time.”

The idea of using rivers to generate power is nothing new – it’s why there are dams all over the country. Again, Jon Guidroz:

“You know that the river is flowing seven days an hour, 24 hours a week, and you can predict what the flows will likely be. So utility companies really like that, because it gives you a nice, round-number estimate.”

Guidroz says if it gets federal approval, the project could create 4,000 jobs at the sites, although he’s not sure how many would be in Mississippi yet.

Free Flow Power is in the middle of applying for 50-year licenses from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC. It’s a lengthy process with a lot of public input – that’s why Guidroz was in Tunica. But he says in a best-case scenario, some sites could start generating power in 2012.

Still, the concept of underwater turbines in rivers is experimental. Free Flow Power has yet to even test its turbines outside of a lab. Hydrokinetic turbines are in several shoreline locations in Europe, but the dynamics of tidal flows are different from rivers.

Dennis Truax is a professor of environmental engineering at Mississippi State. He says underwater turbines make sense on the coast, but he worries about their placement in rivers.

“My biggest concern is if enough energy is extracted from the flowing water, then the end result is the water will move slower, the depth of the water will rise through the loss of that energy, and you could end up conceivably with flooding.”

Truax is quick to point out that he doesn’t know if Free Flow Power’s turbines would actually do this. And Jon Guidroz says any impact on the river’s velocity will be minimal.

But even minimal variations can be a big deal. Tony Johnston is a captain with the Memphis District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. His concern isn’t energy, it’s whether the turbines could affect navigation.

“I’d say the jury’s still out. Obviously they need to be mounted low enough in the water so that we don’t think they’ll ever be hit, both cause we don’t want to sink anything on top of them and of course they don’t want their turbines hit.”

Guidroz says the company will be working closely with the Corps in regards to every aspect of the project.

“The idea is that this unit is in the water and it’s very much a benign unit in the water.”

Free Flow’s turbines are being designed specifically, he says, to be environmentally friendly.

“No chemical lubricants, a hydrodynamic bearing where the water is actually the lubricant, and we believe that we’ve reengineered our second-generation turbine that provides sufficient distance between the support structure and the rotating part so that the endangered pallid sturgeon and other fish can pass through the turbine if they so choose.”

Ben West is a biologist at the Environmental Protection Agency. He says the agency wants to find out a lot more about the environmental impact on aquatic life, wetlands and water.

“Again, it seems a bit odd that they would go for a, a 50-year license for these you know, these huge massive turbine arrays when they, they haven’t really done one before that has proven to be, you know, viable.”

Even if Free Flow Power can win over the skeptics and get all 55 FERC permits, there’s still a long way to go. Namely the $3 billion dollar price tag of construction.

Not a problem, says Jon Guidroz.

“Water’s 800 times more dense than air. It flows around the clock. I think what Free Flow Power’s doing is starting the gold rush – and building the shovels for it.”

So maybe sometime in the next few years, the Mississippi River will be turning on the lights in Mississippi homes.

For MPB News, I’m Cari Gervin.