User:Florencethree/Verdant Power

Verdant Power is a privately held renewable energy technology company specializing in research and development of tidal power and hydroelectric energy systems. Their primary technology, termed a Free Flow Kinetic Hydropower System, consists of an underwater turbine, similar in design to a typical wind turbine, which produces electricity from tidal and river currents. Projects can be scaled with any number of turbines in a tidal farm array. Unlike more traditional hydroelectric technologies, this design does not require a dam to be built in the waterway.

Founded in 2000 in New York, NY, Verdant Power currently has three projects in various stages of development in North America. Their most well known is the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) project operating in the East River in New York City. The company has plans for two other projects in the future: the CORE project in the St. Lawrence River in Cornwall, Ontario, and the NPS-KHPS project, a demonstration in coordination with the U.S. Navy to take place in Puget Sound in Washington State. Currently the RITE project has finished two stages of prototype designs and awaits approval for commercialization and production of a 1 megawatt (MW) tidal farm. The CORE project will be developed on a larger scale with an estimated capacity of up to 15MW and will be Verdant Power’s first demonstration in a strictly river current setting.

RITE
The RITE project was initiated in 2002 as Verdant Power’s first undertaking as a company. Located in New York City’s East River adjacent to Roosevelt Island, the project is currently awaiting approval for its third production phase which will send RITE into commercial scale power production.

History
In the first two stages of production, Verdant tested and demonstrated its technology. Phase 1 started in 2002 and consisted of development and testing of a prototype design. In 2006 the company installed its first turbine in the East River as part of the phase II demonstration. In this stage six separate turbines were installed and tested through 2008. The basic design of each turbine is a horizontal axis rotor with three blades (5m diameter) which rotate slowly at approximately 32 rpm in the average 2 m/s current. The front of the turbine is fitted with a wing to turn the down-stream blades into the current. However, engineers had difficulty in producing a turbine which would withstand the strong force of the tidal currents. The first design had blades constructed from fiberglass which were destroyed when the turbine was installed. A stronger second design used aluminum and magnesium. Although it held up for a few months, it eventually broke down like the first. Finally, a design manufactured from a tougher aluminum alloy was able to withstand the strong currents and produce electricity for a nearby supermarket and parking garage (2). The final optimized design is also smaller and features less moving parts. During the testing phase the turbines delivered 80 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity and accumulated 9,000 combined hours of operation (4).

Future Developments
With the completion of phase 2, Verdant Power has moved to apply for their commercial license for the RITE project through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the agency responsible for hydropower oversight. Verdant expects to receive its license in early 2010 for the beginning of the phase-3 build out (5). Initially it will consist of a 30 turbine array with a 1 MW installed capacity. The company also has preliminary plans to develop the west channel of the river where as much as 4 MW could be supported (5). Deeper waters there would allow for larger turbine blades and generators (5). Fully expanding the RITE project in the East River would involve a total of 300 turbines and 10 MW of power (4). It is anticipated that the project will be completed by 2012.

CORE
The CORE project will utilize the constant flow of the St. Lawrence River, and the initial planning and testing started in 2007. Because of the research and development of turbine technology done for RITE, CORE will only have two phases, the first dedicated to evaluation and testing, the second for commercialization. Verdant Power estimates that as much as 15 MW of power could ultimately be produced at the location (6). The project has received $2.2 million funding from Ontario Government’s Innovation Demonstration Fund (6).