Mar. 9--MILLERSVILLE

For all the headaches in running a small hydroelectric power plant, Allen Haneline doesn't regret joining North Carolina's ranks of minor energy moguls.

"What it takes," he said, "is someone who loves the outdoors and likes to get wet. You get wet about every day."

Beaver-gnawed sticks float down the Lower Little River northeast of Hickory and wrap around Haneline's circa-1919 turbines, the guts of a plant he bought three years ago. "You can literally see the kilowatts fall," he said, sniffling after a recent repair.

As owner, operator and chief mechanic, he dons waders, descends into a room below the dam that leaks water with the force of a fire hose, and sets to work. Cleared of debris, the turbines whirl again and pollution-free electricity races off to Duke Energy's lines.

Haneline is among a rising number of N.C. entrepreneurs hoping to wrestle energy -- and profits -- from the sun, wind, water and organic wastes. Their output, called renewable energy, is still so small that it's barely measurable against the coal- and nuclear-fueled power that dominate the state.

But they have reason for optimism -- and investment.

A recent law dictates a growing role for renewables in the state's energy mix, beginning next year. Generous tax credits salve the sting of investing in expensive technology. And an energy-focused president believes he can help heal the economy by developing alternatives to fossil fuels.

It's fertile ground for tinkerers chasing the next great idea.

That describes Richard and Jerry Tucker, brothers and engineers who live in Locust, 20 miles northeast of Charlotte. The Tuckers have patented a device that superheats landfill garbage, producing methane gas and carbon in a process that they say emits no pollutants.

Four-foot flames, fueled by methane, shot into the night air recently as they demonstrated their invention for potential customers and investors. The methane could generate electricity or heat homes or boilers, the Tuckers say.

"What we produce is, in a sense, a transition fuel," Jerry Tucker said. "It's a transition between foreign oil and solar, wind, hydro and geothermal energy."

Like the Tuckers, most renewable-energy firms are small, according to a recent survey by the N.C. Sustainable Energy Association.

"We get a lot of folks saying, 'I've got a great idea that I built in my garage,'" said Paul Quinlan, the advocacy group's research and development director.