Natel Energy, Inc. is a renewable energy systems company operating in the waterpower industry designing high performance Restoration Hydro Turbines (RHTs) for low head settings. The firm's low head hydropower system, the SLH, enables cost-effective, fish-friendly generation of reliable, renewable electricity from the thousands of existing low dams, miles of existing irrigation canal infrastructure, and the significant, undeveloped low head potential in streams. The SLH technology aims to reduce the cost of developing power at low head sites and to expand the range of economically developable sites to ones as low as 3 feet tall. The firms newest project, EcoSmartHydro, is a framework for hydropower policy, project and product design, based upon the development of water resources for power production while effectively addressing diverse ecological, social, and economic concerns. Whereas conventional hydropower is characterized by a centralized approach to project planning and large environmental footprint, EcoSmartHydro Power is distributed, low-impact, yet still successful at the utility scale. The first project with this mentality is a fully flooded, two-stage impulse hydropower turbine, hydroEngine. Water enters the hydroEngin encounters a cascade of fixed foils, called guidevanes, which direct flow into the first cascade of moving blades. After passing over the moving blades, the water flows through a second cascade of guidevanes, and finally, passes through a second cascade of moving blades. The guidevanes inside the hydroEngine⢠are adjustable in pitch, allowing for direct control of flowrate, while keeping the machineâs efficiency high across a wide range of flow
