Currents in the St. Clair River will generate electrical current with technology to be tested by a startup energy company.

Vortex Hydro Energy in July plans to install a device called a VIVACE converter near the area where Lake Huron waters flow into the river north of the Blue Water Bridge. The company will monitor its performance for about three months, then evaluate how to make it work better.

The Times Herald of Port Huron says the company has exclusive rights to commercialize the technology patented at the University of Michigan.

Vortex president Gus Simiao says the project has been approved by both the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment.