From New Energy's inception until the introduction of the EnCurrent line of products, the company's sole focus has been to provide a water-to-wire in-stream hydroelectric product that could be purchased off-the-shelf. Key to achieving this has been the company’s development program.

The first phase of the development program was the fabrication of an initial development turbine, which was able to generate 3 kW of electricity in a 3 m/s current. Parallel to the fabrication of the turbine, construction of a pontoon boat was commissioned to support testing of the turbine. The pontoon boat was outfitted with an outboard motor and the initial testing and validation of the turbine was carried out in a still water environment, with the current generated by the outboard motor pushing the pontoon boat and turbine through the water. A synchronous generator was used to convert the torque generated by the turbine into electricity.

The initial installation of the turbine was at the City of Calgary’s Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment Plant. It was in this installation that the decision was made to abandon the synchronous generator for power generation in favour of a variable speed generator. The installation also provided other learnings which were incorporated into the system and validated with the development turbine.