Source: Hydrovolts Press Release, December 20, 2011.
NASA, USAID, The U.S. Department of State, and NIKE identified Hydrovolts for its innovative approach to society’s most pressing energy challenges.
Seattle (December 12, 2011) – Hydrovolts announced today its selection as one of the ten innovators of LAUNCH: Energy, a competition founded by NASA, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of State and NIKE. Hydrovolts CEO Burt Hamner’s presentation to the LAUNCH Council is available on video.
The LAUNCH: Energy challenge identifies transformative energy innovations with the potential to revolutionize both the developed and developing world. Hydrovolts was selected for its unique and affordable “Switchblade” turbine and “Flipwing” turbine rotor that enables reliable hydroelectricity generation from canals and other managed-flow water courses.
Hydrovolts was chosen from over 200 submissions, which were reviewed by a diverse panel of experts comprised of government officials, industry leaders, researchers, and investors. The panel was tasked to identify the ten innovators who best demonstrated potential for broad impact as well as technical and financial viability. Hydrovolts was showcased at the LAUNCH: Energy Forum which will be held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida from November 11 to 13, 2011. The Forum was attended by the LAUNCH Council of forty experts from a variety of backgrounds.
“This is great validation for Hydrovolts, our technology and vision,” says CEO Burt Hamner. “The LAUNCH team had over 200 choices, we are very proud to be picked as one of the 10 finalists. Our company has received inquiries from 43 countries so we look forward to receiving help and guidance from LAUNCH and to explore opportunities for investment, partnership and deployment. We look forward to engaging with LAUNCH’s Founding Partners and Council who represent a diverse cross section of leadership in energy research, global development and manufacturing Through our collaboration with LAUNCH, we hope to accelerate Hydrovolt’s mission to bring global clean energy generation to the manufacturing sector, making power from water.”
The latest video of Hydrovolts’ patent-pending turbine, showing testing by the US Navy in Sept 2011, is online at www.youtube.com/hydrovolts
Class 1 Man-Portable Hydrokinetic Turbine for Expeditionary Power Systems: 576 Watts output (24V x 24A) for charging batteries of weapons and field equipment. Testing by US Navy Surface Warfare Center, Sept 2011, Bethesda MD.
About LAUNCH: NASA, USAID, U.S. Department of State, and NIKE joined together to form LAUNCH in an effort to identify, showcase and support innovative approaches to global challenges. LAUNCH searches for visionaries, whose world-class ideas, technologies or programs show great promise for making tangible impacts on society. For more information, please visit www.launch.org.
About Hydrovolts Inc. (www.hydrovolts.com | www.youtube.com/hydrovolts): Hydrovolts capitalizes upon the global opportunity of untapped energy from controlled flowing water, enabling clean electricity in places never before possible. The company’s zero-head hydrokinetic turbines offer an economical and easy way to generate reliable, local clean power in millions of locations around the world, including water canals, dam tailraces, thermal cooling discharges, water and wastewater treatment plants, rivers and tidal channels. Hydrovolts technology offers reliability, predictability, cost-efficiency and control unmatched by other renewable energy sources.
Hydrovolts has collaborations with the U.S. Department of Energy, the University of Washington, the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. Based at the McKinstry Innovation Center in Seattle, the company has won several awards, including the 2009 National Sustainability Award in the Cleantech Open, the 2011 ImagineH2O Water-Energy Nexus Prize, and the $50,000 Green Business investment prize from the Zino Society.
For more information: Hydrovolts CEO Burt Hamner at 206-491-0945 or burt@hydrovolts.com. More information is available on the company website www.hydrovolts.com . Videos are online at www.youtube.com/hydrovolts