WBRZ - Baton Rouge

A $3 million federal stimulus grant will be used to establish a center for commercial development of turbines that can be placed in the Mississippi River and other powerfully flowing rivers to generate electricity.

Tulane University officials said the center could be a big step forward in the science of hydrokinetics, which is using flowing water without a dam for generating electricity.

Several companies have received preliminary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to place turbines that would be turned by flowing water in the Mississippi and other rivers.