East River Tidal Power Project Gets Another Step Closer To Fruition

Verdant Power, which installed a mini-array of tidal power turbines in the East River off Roosevelt Island, has applied to the FERC for a permit to operate a full-scale tidal power project.

The company, Verdant Power, filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to install up to 30 tidal power turbines in the river’s East Channel for a pilot project. Company officials say the turbines would transmit energy onto the national grid.

The application “represents the culmination of nearly a decade of work undertaken by Verdant Power and a variety of project stakeholders to add tidal power to the U.S. clean energy mix,” Verdant’s chief executive, Ronald Smith, said in a statement.

From 2006 to 2008, the company installed six turbines, to create “clean energy” from the swift, powerful tides of the river, which is technically a tidal strait and not a river at all.

The three-bladed turbines encountered some problems — with the strong currents breaking off tips of some blades — but succeeded in generating power that was delivered to local businesses on Roosevelt Island. Company officials called it the first system of grid-connected tidal turbines in the world. The trial also offered proof that turbines would not injure fish in the river, Verdant officials said.

Some of that power went to Gristede's supermarket on Roosevelt Island, and the demonstration project showed that the concept could work. Issues with materials used on the turbines appear to have been worked out.

This would be a significant step in improving the power generating capabilities within New York City.

East River Tidal Power Project Moving Forward

Verdant Power, which had installed a test rig in the East River to determine whether it could generate power from the tidal flow on the river and that it's turbine systems could handle the loads, is one step closer to getting its commercial license approved.

It includes a new "optimized turbine," which is smaller and has fewer parts than the ones it initially used, Taylor said.

The appeal is that, unlike a dam, turbines can be installed and removed quickly.

"You can put in two or three turbines a week," he said. "It's like planting trees."

The new design also includes a gravity-based anchoring system. Rather than being secured to the bottom of the river, three turbines will be set on a triangular frame that sits underwater.

Verdant is planning to submit its final license application to federal regulators in the next couple of months - the last step before the turbines can be installed, Taylor said.

"The regulatory process is very slow," he said. "Because we're putting something in navigable waters, there's a lot of competing interest."

When the licensing process is complete, Taylor said, Verdant plans to research sites on the Hudson River and the Long Island Sound for similar hydroelectric power sites.

The company would install 30 turbines in the East River, and be able to generate 1 megawatt of power. That's enough to power 30,000 homes. The test system had powered a Gristedes supermarket on Roosevelt Island but the new system is substantially different than the test units - both in terms of a reduced number of parts in the new system and that it would be held in place by gravity alone.

Hydropower in New York City

One of the last places you'd think of an innovative tidal power project would be New York City, but anyone with any knowledge of the geography of the city would know that it is actually a very good place to consider tidal/hydro power.

Manhattan is an island surrounded by fast moving currents flowing through the East, Harlem, and Hudson Rivers. The geography makes it an ideal area to test hydropower projects because of the tidal forces in the watershed.

The tidal power project is located across from the UN building on the East River and is currently powering only a handful of customers, but if the tests prove successful, the project could be expanded:

Under the East River’s surface, along Roosevelt Island’s eastern shoreline, are six tidal-powered Kinetic Hydropower System turbines providing energy to a parking lot and a Gristedes.

Verdant Power’s Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project has set a record for free-flow turbines producing continuous energy for 2,400 hours, and to commemorate this, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other officials are expected to host a celebration today.

It is the first kinetic hydropower technology for customers and the first-ever “multi-turbine kinetic hydropower field” to be installed and operated.

Verdant Power installed its first turbine in December and the sixth in early May. Five are producing power, one is taking measurements and all are monitored to see what affect the rotation of the turbines is having on fish.

Verdant Power’s goal is to expand the operation to up to 300 turbines along Roosevelt Island and by the United Nations that could provide 10 megawatts of power locally, or enough energy to power roughly 8,000 homes, Taylor said.

Opponents have worried that the underwater turbines would turn the local fish population into sushi. It's the first project of its kind in the world.

Each turbine produces 1,000 kilowatts a day, and produces no pollution, but the tidal forces that run the turbines only produce sufficient flow about 77% of the time.

That's the kind of project that should get uniform support, and Riverkeeper is cautiously optimistic.