Units on bridge pylons and on the river bed, turning at the speed of the water while fish swim past. No dam, no fuel, no battery bank.
Aqua Flow Energy makes turbines that make low-cost electricity 24/7 from moving water.
The turbines sit below the surface in rivers, tidal channels, ocean currents and large water pipes.
Solar and wind produce power 30% of the time depending on the weather and time of day. A turbine in moving water will supply power around the clock without a battery bank.
Units are 2 to 10 metres across and fit in a shipping container. They are built from stock industrial components with one moving part, and use no rare earth metals.
The First Tranche of US$2 million pays for full-scale prototypes and field trials in Melbourne and the USA. The Second Tranche of US$20 million funds a US factory and licensed partner builds after positive trials.
The best sites are where moving water meets existing power lines: a harbour mouth, a bridge in a city river, a wind-farm foundation, an irrigation channel. The panel below is a tidal entrance seen from above, the kind of site a survey boat can measure in an afternoon.
Questions about sitesUnder bridges in city rivers
Units hang from bridge pylons and walkways, next to the people using the power.Ocean currents
Offshore currents flow in one direction all year.Offshore wind foundations
The towers and grid cables are already in place.Irrigation and supply channels
Water in these channels flows at a steady, known rate.Units run from 2 to 10 metres across. Blade shape is matched to the local water speed, from 0.5 to 5 metres per second.
The range includes two and three blade rotors, spiral rotors, and an Archimedes spiral built for slow, open flow. There are six core models in design.
Generators and drivetrains are adapted from proven technology and natural shapes and most parts are bought off the shelf. The shaft is the main moving part, and in some units a gearbox will be used to increase RPM.
Most of the generator unit is iron and copper. The frame is stainless steel and recycled plastic for blades.
Units fit standard ISO shipping containers and can be assembled on site in about four hours. No oversize freight permits or heavy-lift ships are needed.
An installation barge carries two or three unit types. The crew measures flow speed and direction at the spot and lowers the unit that suits it.
The generator sits in a pod that lifts out. A fresh pod goes in and the old one is serviced on land.
Units work at 5 to 20 metres depth, within reach of divers and a standard workboat. The planned service interval is six months. The rest of an array keeps running while one unit is serviced.
Spiral blades turn slowly and leave open space for fish to pass. Faster units sit behind screens and ducts that keep fish out of the blade zone and smooth the flow into the rotor.
We will measure the effect on fish and marine mammals during field trials.
Data centres need constant power and are often built beside rivers for cooling water. An array in that river supplies power on site. Australia will have more than 300 data centres by the end of 2026. There are over 10,000 worldwide, growing about 20% a year.
1.5 MW average load per site
Data centres need constant power and are often built beside rivers for cooling water. An array in that river supplies power on site. Australia will have more than 300 data centres by the end of 2026. There are over 10,000 worldwide, growing about 20% a year.
Data centre caseDiesel replacement
Many islands run on imported diesel, and solar needs large batteries to cover the night. Units at several tidal points around an island cover each other’s slack water, so the array runs all day and night. Local crews with a workboat can service it.
Economic statementYarra and other city rivers
Most large cities sit on a river or a bay. Units hang below bridges and walkways close to the people using the power, which cuts the need for new transmission lines. Melbourne on the Yarra is the first target.
White paperShared foundations and cables
Wind farm foundations already stand in deep water with grid cables attached. Adding water turbines to them gives a wind farm steady output when the wind drops, at a lower cost than building a new site. The engineering review names this as a major opportunity.
Engineering review01 / 05
Hydrokinetic feasibility review, 2026AetherFab Engineering Australia with the University of Melbourne
Unlike solar or wind, hydrokinetic energy remains stable at night, during storms, and in winter, making it a valuable complement to existing renewable portfolios.
Unlike solar or wind, hydrokinetic energy remains stable at night, during storms, and in winter, making it a valuable complement to existing renewable portfolios.
Australia possesses extensive untapped water resources that flow continually, predictably, and in proximity to population centres.
The most investable opportunities are those that pair a verified flow resource with turbine architectures engineered for reliability, simplified maintenance, and ecological safety.
Co-locating hydrokinetic systems with offshore wind foundations represents a significant commercial opportunity for AFE.
No single turbine architecture is universally optimal across all sites; design selection should be matched to the local velocity regime, depth constraints, and operating environment.
The review was commissioned by AFE and written by AetherFab’s engineers, working from the University of Melbourne. Every figure on this site that comes from it is marked as such.
Planning cost of a 1 MW unit: the bill of materials doubled. Catalogue alternators and gearboxes, a steel pod, pressed blades on stainless ribs, legs and cable to shore.
Units are sold outright for the first three years. Data centres and cities pay a price per megawatt that steps down as the megawatts accumulate.
From the fourth year a customer can lease instead of buy. Power is priced under the buyer's next cheapest firm option, fixed for ten years and indexed.
Every unit sold carries a deposit on order and a service agreement. Deposits on next year's orders pay for this year's components.
Figures are from the AFE business plan, November 2026. Planning costs are the bill of materials doubled; prices are the plan's tranche prices. Prototype and field trials will test them.
Three cases from the November 2026 business plan, five years from Tranche A. Units are sold outright for the first three years, leased from the fourth. No outside money after the two tranches in any case.
Base case: 1,320 MW installed by the fifth year, with 200 MW delivered in year three. Data-centre and city units sell at US$5.0M per MW for the first 50 MW, falling to US$3.5M. These are projections from the plan's model, not forecasts, and the trials will change them.
Water carries far more energy per square metre than wind at the same speed, so the units can be much smaller.
Tide pauses briefly each time it turns. Units at several points along a coast cover each other's pauses.
Each unit arrives in a standard shipping container and is put together where it will run.
The generator pod is swapped and the old one is serviced on land.
Ten years of design work produced 3D-printed concepts, small prototypes and six core blade designs, each matched to a band of water speeds.
AetherFab Engineering Australia, with the University of Melbourne, reviewed the field. The review recommends spiral and ducted turbines, and mounting units on offshore wind foundations.
DWG 08 · TULIP ROTOR · REV BFull-scale prototypes, tested with AetherFab at the University of Melbourne fluid engineering facilities. Tests cover torque and vortex effects in flood flows.
DWG 12 · SERVICE BARGE · REV BQuarter-scale and full-scale units in the Yarra River and in tidal water such as Mud Island in Port Phillip Bay. The trials measure power per unit and the effect on fish.
DWG 10 · POD REMOVAL · REV BAssembly and maintenance partners signed in each region, starting with the first US plant. The target is 18 months from the end of trials to international distribution.
Clean power that is practical, efficient and profitable. The river runs whether or not the sun shines, and every unit we put in it is cash and evidence at once.
Stock parts, a shipping container and a workboat. No dam, no new transmission line, no rare earths.
Water is 800 times denser than air. A small rotor in a steady current does the work of a large one in the wind.
Units are sold with a service contract from day one. The plan returns investors' cash by around the thirty-sixth month in the Base case.
Geoff has run the Melbourne agency Starship since 1991 and leads partner and licensing deals. The core designs come from his experiments in water flow since 2010.
Wes has thirty years in the electrical industry and a decade working in the United States. He will establish and run the first US plant.
Ben is special counsel at Nevett Wilkinson Frawley and mayor of Central Goldfields Shire. He handles structures, regulation and talks with governments.
Luca runs AFE's brand, web and systems, and fronts its work on water, ecology and biodiversity. He consults on water remediation and ecological restoration.
Gerard is the first contact for sophisticated and wholesale investors. Thirty years in international finance in New York, Asia and Australia.
All directors are sailors and divers. Design and fluid dynamics are led by Dr Wagih Abu Rowin through AetherFab Engineering Australia. Systems and telemetry by Mark Treleaven, 1ZERO.
US$2 million moves AFE from design to commercial manufacture. It pays for full-scale prototypes and field trials in Melbourne and the United States.
The Second Tranche of US$20 million, on positive results, funds the first US plant, long-lead components for the first units and operations to first revenue. No further dilution is expected: the business is funded by 25% deposits on orders from then on.
For sophisticated and wholesale investors. Early-stage technology investment carries high risk. You could lose all of the money you invest.
