START: BladeRunner Energy Making a Splash In Renewable Energy

BLADERUNNER ENERGY’S FISH FRIENDLY POWER GENERATOR MAKING A SPLASH IN RENEWABLE ENERGYBend Venture Conference Early Stage Winner Making Headlines

Bend, Ore. – December 6, 2018 – In 2017, BladeRunner Energy took home the Early Stage Award of $17,500 at the Bend Venture Conference (BVC). Since then, they have gone on to improve their technology, win yet another prestigious award at the 2018 Cascadia CleanTech Accelerator, and present on the Central Oregon PubTalk stage. Their green technology is quickly moving upstream among the sustainable energy community. BladeRunner Energy is an eco-friendly micro-hydro solution for sustainable power generation without the use of a dam. Their flexible technology mimics the natural flow of water, creating enough power to fuel electricity for an entire household, while minimizing environmental impact. The company is working to reduce costs by shrinking the size of the system down so that one person can easily install and store the device for an “energy when you need it” system. Winning the BVC Early Stage Award provided Co-founder and CTO Moriel Arango the opportunity to focus full-time on rapidly developing the technology for the company, as well as spreading the word of their product throughout the region. This outreach has permitted them to engage in conversations with local irrigation districts and stakeholders in the CleanTech ecosystem. Today, the team continues to work on the R&D of the technology, which is funded by a Phase II SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation. They are working towards receiving additional funding for their first pilot demonstration aiming to use a stretch of irrigation in the Central Oregon area.

With BVC now in the rearview mirror, Moriel returned to the Central Oregon PubTalk stage earlier in November for an update. He informed the Central Oregon community that they had the confidence to enter the 2018 Cascadia CleanTech Accelerator in Portland, due to their success at BVC the previous year. The company took home the Standout Company Award along with a $2,000 cash prize and $2,500 of in-kind legal services. This success in the accelerator program is an additional boost to their motivation and further drives the point that Oregon is a center of innovation around CleanTech. The future of any startup can be uncertain, but BladeRunner Energy is working hard to meet key milestones. From the Bend Venture Conference to the Cascadia CleanTech Accelerator, each bit of success gets them one step closer to completing their mission of bringing hydropower to the people. Find more information at www.bladerunnerenergy.com.

About Economic Development for Central Oregon (EDCO) EDCO is a non-profit corporation supported by private and public members and stakeholders, whose mission is to create middle-class jobs in Central Oregon by: recruiting new employers to move to the region; helping entrepreneurs start new, scalable businesses; and working with businesses that are already here to grow their operations. For more information, visit www.edcoinfo.com.