Ridgefield firm gets hydropower boost

By Gordon Oliver
The Columbian

While others have turned to wind, waves and sun rays for new sources of power, Hydrovolts is going with the flow of hydropower.

The Seattle-based startup sees vast potential for power and profits in the irrigation channels that carry water in much of the world. The company has designed a small-scale turbine that can generate electricity from slow-moving waterways, and it’s about to build prototypes at a small manufacturing plant in Ridgefield.

“Technology and need have coincided to provide new opportunities for hydro,” said Eli Lamb, Hydrovolts’ Portland-based managing director, at a recent Southwest Washington PubTalk presentation. Read more