NATCHEZ — The Mississippi River at Natchez could eventually become home to underwater windmills — a cutting edge mechanism that produces green-friendly energy.

Unlike Concordia Parish’s Sydney A. Murray Jr. Hydroelectric Station on Louisiana 15, which harnesses the power of the Mighty Mississippi by damming the river at the Old River Structure, the turbines that the Boston-based company, Free Flow Power Corporation, want to install in the area would generate power beneath the river’s surface.

Free Flow Power Director of Project Development Jon Guidroz said the turbines work like an underwater wind farm, except they use the flow of water instead of wind.

The turbines would likely be attached to the bottom of the river or under the water’s surface to a barge, Guidroz said.

Free Flow Power, a clean renewable energy company focusing on using the power of water as a source of electricity and grid stability, took preliminary steps earlier this year to apply for a license in the Miss-Lou from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Three legal advertisements the FERC placed in The Natchez Democrat in July and August, gave notice that Free Flow Power planned to conduct a feasibility study of using hydrokinetic power in the river near Natchez and Vidalia.

Hydrokinetic energy uses flowing water to generate power without dams, Guidroz said.

“We think there’s a fantastic opportunity to develop America’s best kept secret in hydrokinetic in Mississippi River,” Guidroz said.

The company has labeled the river near Natchez and Vidala, “Vidal Island hydrokinetic project.” The location is one of 42 pending sites on the Mississippi River in which the company is attempting to attain a FERC license to operate.

The current pending sites are part of a narrowed-down previous list of more than 100 sites at which the company initially sought permits starting in 2007, Guidroz said.

“Our goal is to achieve as many licenses feasible in a responsible manner,” Guidroz said.

The company has already performed 11 multi-faceted tests, Guidroz said. He said some of the tests measure the navigability of the river with the turbines or effects of the turbines on the fish population, for instance.

The results of the tests prompted the company to continue to pursue a permit, he said.

“We think the stretch that goes through Louisiana and Mississippi is very promising,” Guidroz said.

Since late June, Free Flow Power has been testing an underwater turbine — the first of its kind the United States — in the Mississippi River at a pilot operation in Plaquemines Parish near New Orleans.

Leaders in the hydrokinetic industries in the United Kingdom have been focused on salt-water applications such as oceans, Guidroz said.

“But they don’t have the Mississippi River.”

The Plaquemines Parish test facility does not have permission to sell the energy to a utility company because it is not licensed yet, Guidroz said. But he said eventually Free Flow Power’s turbine operations could sell the power to a company like Entergy.

“(The project) could bring a lot of jobs and positive economic impact along the Mississippi River waterway, including Natchez and Vidalia,” Guidroz said.

Guidroz said the company expects to complete the license application process at the end of 2012.