Heading (slowly) toward commercialization
Verdant Power's six prototypes tested in the East River encountered some of these problems when strong currents broke off parts of turbine blades. But power was successfully delivered to businesses on Roosevelt Island, launching what the company calls the first grid-connected system of tidal turbines in the world. Indeed, the achievement is significant, because the company sees itself competing on a global scale.
"Right now, it's a race between the U.S. and the U.K., and in that race, we feel confident that Verdant Power has the lead," said co-founder and President Trey Taylor.
Verdant is also trying to move into the Chinese market with the sale of its Gen5 turbine. As a member of the Department of Commerce's Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee, Taylor says it's the current administration's goal to double its renewables exports in the next five years. China has taken the lead in wind and solar energy, said Taylor, but hydrokinetic power is an emerging industry that could still be led by the United States.
"We've been building relationships and have signed a memorandum of understanding with China's largest renewable company," said Taylor. "In future, we could be exporting our rotor blades and other component parts, and that would be a job creator in the U.S. based on a commercially viable operation going on in New York."
Verdant is still waiting for final approval on a commercial license to start installing its 30-turbine system that could see three turbines in the East River by next year. Others will have to wait longer, although they see that the need for stable sources of future energy is increasing.
"It's not just an issue of renewable energy; it's an issue of energy security," said Meffert regarding the uncertainty of the Southern climate. "We could have a hurricane wipe out our traditional energy grid, yet that river is still flowing. So if we're tapping into that, we'd be a much more resilient and robust region in terms of our energy facilities."
"But that's in the 20-year range, and I'm sick of waiting," he said. "I just hope I'm alive to see it."
Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500
See what we're tweeting about
4 Comments
Add CommentI wonder what the environmental impact would be if the turbines were lowered into one of the many underground rivers in the midwest. If you could drill a well into a fast flowing underground river, why not make the hole bigger and lower the turbine portion of the system into the river. Small systems could be sold to farmers and other out of the way places as independent electrical sources that would not require gas or diesel.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Mississippi, and any other river, is a huge untapped potential energy source.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell this is almost a good idea. What they need to do is store energy and transport it that way. Example, put these hydro-kinetic turbines on platforms to capture ocean currents. Use the energy generated to convert the water around the platform into hydrogen fuel, then transport the hydrogen for use. This is more efficient, no wasted energy, no worry about drought or location of a current(can move the platform) and when the hydrogen is burned, you get water back.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut a better solution in the short term would be to do away with mega generating plants and simply transport natural gas to homes for residential energy production. This is a huge savings of the CO2 everyone complains about because it would take far less natural gas to produce the same home energy. Why, because there is no longer waste during caused by transformers when moving the power up to transmission lines and back. Imagine all the coal not burned by not having to produce extra energy to make up for transmission loss.
Do you think I could get a research grant for my candy powered generator? It would be cheaper & more efficient than this proposal. All you need is an athlete chewing candy operating a treadmill powered generator.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow can these proposals get past kindergarten discussion? It is a simple matter of mathematics. You must either have high velocity or huge turbines. Typical river flow & tidal speeds would require vast turbines to generate anything worth while, at absolutely prohibitive cost. All the experiments in the world will not change the physics.