Venture Capital Firms

Hydro Kinetic Electric Energy, the Wave of the Future, Hydro Green Energy is Creating a Revolution in Clean Technology

Based in Texas, Hydro Green Energy is a company that develops renewable sources of energy with the use of hydro kinetic energy. This revolutionary source of energy can be a great source of energy from which entire power grids can generate enough electricity to power large areas. What actually is the technology that is being developed at Hydro Green Energy? Well, the principle is quite simple. Hydro kinetic energy is energy that is generated through the flow of water, such as currents that turn a turbine, or even a generator. Hydro kinetic energy is not new, it has been and is still being used in many parts of the world to generate electricity by the use of hydro-electric dams that block rivers and create large reservoirs of water that can be used for recreation, wildlife habitat, or a source of water for whole communities.

The hydro kinetic turbines that are being developed by Hydro Green Energy are unique in that these turbines are the only modular flow-activated interchangeable turbines created. Unlike conventional hydro generated electricity, Hydro Green Energy’s technology does not use dams to cause the flow that requires a dam to generate it. The turbines that are manufactured by Hydro Green Technology get their flow from tidal currents in the ocean. These amazing turbines are situated on large barges that are anchored in areas of the ocean near the coast and are fixed beneath the barges where the currents turn the turbines. The barges are designed to withstand the rough current and most regular storms on the ocean.

One attractive feature of Hydro Green Energy’s technology is that it can produce a 90% capacity factor for both river and oceanic currents, thus generating over 250 kW of electricity per unit. Furthermore, the units manufactured by Hydro Green Energy are completely safe and are created with strong metal alloys and the smaller parts are encased with reinforced plastic.

The founder of Hydro Green Energy is Wayne F. Krouse, who also serves the company as Chairman and CEO. Mr. Krouse founded the company in 2002 and before starting up Hydro Green Energy, he held several key management positions in Business Development, Marketing, and Technical Sales at Nalco/Exxon Energy Chemicals. Mr. Krouse holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University.

Mark R. Stover is the company’s Vice President of Corporate Affairs and oversees Hydro Green’s legislative, regulatory, and public affairs efforts, as well as working together with Mr. Krouse to help develop and engage business and marketing strategies for the company. Before working for Hydro Green Energy, Mr. Stover worked at Good Company Associates, where he advised many client entrepreneurs in the clean energy and clean-tech business strategies. Mr. Stover also worked for six years at the NHA, or the National Hydropower Association, where he mainly worked to secure and finalize several provisions for the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which includes tax exemptions for companies who engage in hydro-electric power.

Hydro Green Energy’s main investor is the Quercus Trust, who invested $2.6 million in series A funding for Hydro Green in April of 2008. The proceeds from this funding went to aid the Hydro Green Energy in several projects dealing with hydro kinetic systems in the United States.

Hydro Green Energy also has a number of ongoing projects with in six states, working with oceanic energy, tidal energy, and run of river energy. Hydro Green Energy had installed and licensed its first project in Hastings, Minnesota, where Hydro Green constructed their Hydro+ system, which is a system that uses a non-capacity amendment and has the generating capacity of 250 kW per individual unit. Furthermore, this system does not effect the water chemistry of the area, where it is being implemented and does not affect the dissolved oxygen in the water. The amazing thing about this project is that it took less than 12 months to complete after work began.

The Quercus Trust is a vc firm based and invests in Southern California. The Quercus Trust is also a vc firm that prefers to invest only in the clean-tech industry. The interesting thing about the Quercus Trust is that its logo is a group of acorns, and the founding partner of the Quercus Trust also says that quercus is actually the Latin word for oak. Furthermore, trying to extract information from the Quercus Trust is becoming a chore, with the main URL of the vc firm redirects the browser to Google’s search engine site. The one thing that is known about the Quercus Trust is that it has invested in 34 companies. Some of these companies in the Quercus Trust’s portfolio include Ascent Solar, Axion Power International, Beacon Power, BlueFire Ethanol, and others.

Hydro Green Energy does have one major competitor, GreenEnvironment, which has a similar innovative technologies and seeks ways to find alternative sources of energy. GreenEnvironment is based in Berlin, Germany and was founded in January of 2002. The company employs 29 people and has six people on its management team.

For more information about Hydro Green Energy, click here.

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