One of two hydropower developers with eyes on the mighty Mississippi River and, perhaps, using its current to provide electricity in Vicksburg, announced a notable new partner Thursday.

Retired Brig. Gen. Robert Crear has joined Free Flow Power Development Company as chairman, according to a release from the Massachusetts-based firm.

The company is one of three developers in the emerging business of water-based energy waiting for federal approval to build underwater turbines to harness the river’s current to generate electricity.

“I followed Free Flow Power for a while and was impressed by their approach to the challenges they face,” Crear said in a statement. “As I got to know the people on their team, I became really excited about being a part of what they are doing.”

Free Flow plans a $3 billion project to build 55 turbine sites on the Mississippi between St. Louis and the Gulf of Mexico. Turbines measure about 10 feet in diameter and Free Flow is working on plans to install them below minimum depths of navigation channels. The turbines resemble jet engines but spin like windmills in the natural current to generate about 1,600 megawatts for sale to the electric grid or single industries.

While hydropower is common upriver and on smaller rivers that have been dammed, the use of natural flow has been uncommon on the lower river. There is a hydropower plant at Old River Control Structure where the Mississippi abuts the Atchafalaya.

Jon Guidroz, director of project development, said two of the 55 sites encompassing the turbines are along the river off Warren County riverbanks —  one beginning near Brunswick and continuing 10 river miles south and another begins about two miles south of Vicksburg Municipal Airport and stretches 9.6 river miles.

A public scoping meeting on Free Flow’s plans is set for April 13 in Vicksburg, with the site to be announced, Guidroz said.

“It very well could provide power to Vicksburg,” Guidroz said.

“We are thrilled that Bob has joined our company,” CEO Dan Irvin said in the release. “We are building the company’s leadership team and I don’t think you can point to someone with more leadership ability than Gen. Crear.”

Crear, 55, was the first Vicksburg native to command the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Mississippi Valley Division, from 1998 to 2001. His command entailed oversight of the Mississippi River and Tributaries Project, the comprehensive flood control and navigation system from Cape Girardeau, Mo., to the Gulf. After leading Task Force Iraqi Oil and Task Force Hope, following Hurricane Katrina, he presided over the Mississippi River Commission from 2006 until his retirement from the Army in February 2008. For the past year, he has been a distinguished lecturer on applied engineering, national security and homeland security at his alma mater, Jackson State University.

Crear said he and his wife, Reatha, will remain in Vicksburg — something he said was a condition of his employment by the company.

“Reatha and I want to give back and make a difference in our own community, and really enjoy it after living elsewhere for the majority of the last 32 years,” Crear said in a separate e-mail. “Our goal is to build our home overlooking the Mississippi River this year.” 

According to the release, Crear will help build a management team and guide the project through regulatory steps it must earn to be implemented. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must give final approval to proceed to all hydropower turbine applicants. Interested firms are aiming to secure a license by 2012.

Another firm, Connecticut-based Hydro Green Energy — already in the starting phases of the nation’s first hydrokinetic generator — proposes placing turbines near Vicksburg and Natchez, which would be suspended from the surface of the water or mounted on barges. By the end of spring, the company hopes to add a second turbine at Hastings, Minn., to pair with one installed in December.

Both firms’ hopes for success received a boost when a 30 percent investment tax credit, development funding and other incentives for renewable energy sources were included in the federal economic stimulus bill signed in February by President Obama.

Free Flow hopes to apply for its final license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2012 and break ground on the turbine project a year later.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com