US hydropower start-up Emrgy has raised $18m in funding to invest in a new hydro turbine factory in Colorado and support development of its projects.
The Series A funding round was led by Oval Park Capital and included Fifth Wall, Blitzscaling Ventures, Overlay Capital and Veriten as investors.
Emrgy’s hydropower technology makes use of existing underutilised waterways and infrastructure to deliver low-cost renewable power to energy offtakers.
The company’s proprietary modular turbine technology minimises disruptive construction and harvests power continuously as water flows.
Emrgy’s projects will be developed in the western US, Europe and Australasia to provide power to agricultural, municipal and utility offtakers.
“As a company dedicated to decarbonising the critical and vast real estate segment of water infrastructure, I’m thrilled to partner with investors who are equally as committed to our mission,” said Emily Morris, Founder and CEO at Emrgy.
“It is an honor to lead Emrgy into our next pivotal phase of growth, as we continue to deepen our efforts to meet record demand for renewable energy via rapidly deployable, cost-efficient technology.”
Justin Wright-Eakes, Managing Partner at Oval Park Capital, added: “We’re thrilled to support the Emrgy team as they accelerate deployment of their novel distributed hydropower technology in irrigation canals and other existing water infrastructure.
“We believe Emrgy’s modular, cost-effective, and quick-to-deploy systems have the potential to reintroduce hydropower to the global renewable energy conversation that has been dominated by solar and wind in recent years.”
This spring, Emrgy will open its inaugural regional manufacturing facility in Aurora, Colorado with an estimated capacity of 5MW per month.
The company expects to employ up to 30 engineers and operations specialists at the facility in 2023.
Emrgy’s solution has already been deployed with US customers, including Denver Water, Davis and Weber Counties Canal Company and Oakdale Irrigation District and it also has projects in New Zealand and a pilot system in South Africa.