Will the mighty Mississippi be powering our lights?

An alternative energy firm that plans to harness the power of the Mississippi River along the corridor has moved to the next stage of a lengthy licensing process. Massachusetts-based Free Flow Power Corp., which has a subsidiary in New Orleans, is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for commercial hydropower licenses in hopes of installing thousands of small turbine generators along 55 sites in the Mississippi River from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico. Director of Project Development Jon Guidroz tells 10/12 Weekly that 32 of those sites are in Louisiana. Adds the Crescent City native: “We’re looking at every bend in the river between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.” Free Flow just completed a series of public hearings and now begins an intensive study stage. The company hopes to get its first turbines in the water in 2012. Mounted on pilings in the river bottom, on bridge piers or suspended from barges, the turbines are one to three meters in diameter and spin in the current. Hydropower is an appealing form of alternative energy in Louisiana because the turbines are near existing transmission lines that serve cities and industries along the waterway. Free Flow is also considering Louisiana as a possible manufacturing site for the turbines. — Penny Font