Hydropower reimagined.

Our Story

At Natel we believe passionately that it's both possible and necessary to achieve carbon zero while protecting species diversity. To get there, we need to develop renewable technology thoughtfully, using biodiversity conservation as a design constraint. By prioritizing fish survival alongside meeting performance metrics, Natel's fish-safe RHT does just that.

OuR Mission

Support healthy rivers, promote biodiversity, and decarbonize the grid.

We believe clean energy development should also address biodiversity loss. Natel is engineering climate-resilient hydropower that maintains or improves ecosystem health, while delivering reliable, renewable power.

Natel engineering team with a submersible RHT.

Working in the shop at Natel headquarters in California.

Alex and Kelsey fit runner into the turbine.

OuR Values

We aim to build the best solutions: for energy, for the environment, and for people.

We know our business activities—from using computing resources to scale model testing to building projects—all have impact. We seek not only to do less harm, but more good. We are stewards of our planet and are responsible to the generations to come.

A volunteer eel safely passed through the turbine during an alewife test.

Our Story

Early 1980s

Motivated to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, inventor Dan Schneider works with friends from Texas A&M to find new ways to generate renewable energy, inspiring his children, Gia and Abe, at a young age

Early 1990s

As teens, siblings Gia and Abe Schneider discover
the positive ecological benefit beaver dams can have on river health

2009

Gia and Abe Schneider co-found Natel Energy, supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy

First generation Natel hydro turbine at Buckeye pilot project.

2010

Buckeye pilot project
features Natel's first-generation hydro turbine

2011

Natel conducts first hydrologic tests at Alden Research Laboratory

2013

Natel commissions on-site hydraulic test facility

2015

Natel commissions first commercial project for Apple

2016

Natel commissions second commercial
project using second-generation turbine

2017

Natel acquires Upstream Tech, author of HydroForecast watershed intelligence software

2019

Natel unveils the fish-safe Restoration Hydro Turbine (RHT)

2019

Natel installs the first RHT at The Mill in Freedom, Maine

March 2020

Natel announces $11M funding close with
Schneider Electric Ventures and Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Fall 2020

Natel commissions Monroe Hydropower Project in Madras, Oregon, utilizing a utility-scale RHT

Fall 2020

Natel and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) conduct RHT passage tests with rainbow trout; results show 100% immediate and 48-hour survival for through-turbine passage

JULY 2021

Natel announces $20M Series B funding with
Breakthrough Energy Ventures to continue growing modern hydropower

JUNE 2022

Natel and PNNL conduct turbine passage tests with large adult rainbow trout, resulting in >99% safe passage of some of the largest fish ever successfully passed through a compact hydro turbine

August 2022

The scientific journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society publishes Natel's peer-reviewed study conducted with PNNL; results show 100% immediate and 48-hour survival

OCTOBER 2022

Austrian utility Energie Steiermark opens the Sauerbrunn Hydro Project, featuring the first fully-submersible RHT and the first RHT to operate in Europe

Gia with other leaders at the US Africa Business Forum in 2022

OCTOBER 2022

Natel and MyHydro announce, at the US-Africa Business Forum, their contract to install fish-safe RHTs in the first of 33 potential projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo

March 2023

North American Journal of Fisheries Management publishes a peer-reviewed study by Natel and Kleinschmidt Associates; results show 98-100% survival of juvenile alewife passing through a D55 RHT, measured immediately and after 48 hours