  We investigate a possibility of heating of the loops and other closed
magnetic structures in active regions of the solar corona by the flow of solar
wind (plus other flows that may be present) across the magnetic field lines
(that are perpendicular to the flow), in a similar manner as a conventional MHD
generator works. A simple model is formulated which allows to calculate the
typical currents generated by this mechanism. This enables to make a judgement
whether the loops in solar active regions can be heated by the proposed
mechanism through the associated Ohmic dissipation. It is shown that even if
the heating region width is of the order of a few proton Larmor radii (this
effectively means that a loop is represented by {\it nano-threads}, by analogy
with the nano-flare coronal heating mechanism, with width of a few proton
Larmor radii) and the plasma flow speed is 50 km s$^{-1}$ then only about 1% of
the heating requirement of coronal loops could be met under this conjecture.
Other implications of the model, such as a predicted spatial heat distribution
along the loop as well as application of the model to the other places e.g.
chromosphere and corotating interaction region structures in the solar wind are
discussed.
