KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Knoxville Chamber announced Wednesday that Mesa Associates will have a new presence in the Knoxville area after acquiring the NuSTREEM company, a manufacturer of hydroelectric equipment.
Mesa Associates is based in Madison, Alabama, and is an engineering, procurement and construction management firm, according to the chamber. The company's senior vice president said in a release that it will be able to use its sister company, Mesa Technologies, to make NuSTREEM's hydropower units and support power suppliers in the Tennessee Valley.
"As a result, we now offer an innovative and modular generating unit and all the support to implement the unit or units into the client's system, all under the control of the Mesa family of companies," said Tim Ramsey in a press release, the senior vice president.
The NuSTREEM hydroelectric turbine technology combines "advanced control technology and an inventive standardized project deployment application," according to the release from the Knoxville Chamber. Mesa hopes to improve the current technology to handle up to 150 feet of water heads. Currently, it can handle between 10 feet and 40 feet of water heads.
Eventually, the release said Mesa hopes to offer utilities two options when it comes to small hydroelectric generators.
The NuSTREEM company was headquartered in Connecticut in 2014 but had a presence in Knox County. Mesa Associates "provided engineering services to the utility industry since 1988," the chamber said.
“We are all looking forward to this new project, the services it will provide, the jobs it will create, and its contributions to our local economy. Mesa is an amazing partner when it comes to supporting economic development in Knoxville and we are excited to see what is in store as they continue to grow," said Mark Field in a press release, the Knoxville Chamber senior vice president of investor development and experience.