GKinetic & DesignPro Collaborate to take River Devices to Market

GKinetic has just received a seal of approval for our technology. We are collaborating with machine builders, DesignPro ltd. on a project that will see the development of a new range of run of river hydrokinetic turbines. We first engaged DesignPro to build prototypes of our technology. During this phase, DesignPro secured the opportunity to develop 25kW and 60kW devices. DesignPro applied for EU’s Horizon 2020 SME Instrument and have just successfully secured Horizon 2020 Phase 2 funding to commercialise small scale hydrokinetic river turbines up to 100kW utilising GKinetic’s technology.

The project will see an investment of €2.7 Million into the Irish economy creating up to 15 jobs during the project development stage and 50 jobs after commercial roll out. We will work closely with DesignPro on the Research & Development aspects of the project using the opportunity to collect valuable data that will enable scaling up these devices to utility size machines of 250kW and bigger. This project will also allow for the collection of relevant data for environmental impact assessment purposes including the impact on flora or fauna and sediment distribution working closely with other stakeholders in the marine environment including environmentalists, fishermen, aquaculture companies, commercial shipping and leisure boaters.  

While DesignPro are taking this range of devices to market, we will focus on the design, build and demonstration of larger machines.