Directory:Verdant Power
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Low-impact Kinetic Hydropower
Verdant Power is a world leader in commercializing low-impact kinetic hydropower solutions, harnessing the energy from river, tide, and man-made channels.
They have one prototype installation presently producing power for customers. Commercial production, following the conclusion of the prerequisite impact testing, is expected to commence at the end of 2008, beginning with expanding the New York City East River site to 300 turbines, from its present six, where the river flows over bedrock at around 2 meters per second, producing 1 megawatt-hour of electricity per day.
Eventually they envision an eleven-meter turbine which will generate one megawatt, to be situated in larger water-movement bodies such as Puget Sound.
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Official Website
- http://verdantpower.com
- Kinetic Hydropower systems (http://verdantpower.com/what-technology2)
- Free-Flow turbines (http://verdantpower.com/what-systemsint2)
- RITE Project (http://verdantpower.com/what-initiative) - Initiated in 2002, Verdant Power’s Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Project is being operated in New York City’s East River.
- CORE Project (http://verdantpower.com/what-core) - Verdant Power Canada’s Cornwall Ontario Renewable Energy (CORE) Project is planned for operation in the St. Lawrence River.
- Future Projects (http://verdantpower.com/what-development) - California, Canada, International
- FAQ (http://verdantpower.com/category/faq)
Interview
- Download (http://pesn.com/Radio/Free_Energy_Now/recordings/2007/070609_VerdantPower_TreyTaylor.mp3) (14 Mb; mp3) - On June 9, 2007, Sterling D. Allan conducted a live, 1-hour interview with Trey Taylor, President of Verdant Power, as part of the Free Energy Now (http://freeenergynow.net) radio series.
Videos
- From Big Apple to Green Apple (http://www.exn.ca/dailyplanet/view.asp?date=3/28/2005#) - New York City is in process of developing turbines to harness the energy of East River, which flows at 3-4 knots. Anticipated capacity: 20 MW, at cost estimated at 5 cents per kW-h -- much lower than existing power, which costs ~20 cents/kW-h. (DiscoveryChannel.ca; March 28, 2005)
Latest Developments
The array of six turbines in NYC East River are powering a supermarket and a parking garage for state-owned, all-electric vehicles.
Patents
The company holds 16 patents, with 24 more ready to file.
Considerations
Low-impact Hydro in General
The potential worldwide for plausible low-impact hydro power harnessing is 25 terawatts (25,000 gigawatts; or 25,000,000 megawatts; or 25,000,000,000 watts) -- enough to supply the world's energy needs.
Water flow has 800 times more energy density than dry air flow.
An increase of flow increases the power output as a function of a cube of the speed increase, so seasonal adjustments in a river flow will impact the power output of the turbine system significantly.
| type | capacity factor (on-time) |
| Wind farms | 30% |
| Off-shore wind | 40% |
| Tidal power | 30% |
| Big rivers | 60% |
Cost
The one-off prototype phase is, of course, expensive, with the price running between $4,800 and $5,000 per kilowatt installed. Once commercialization is achieved in late 2008, the price will come down to around $2,400/kw installed. A diesel generator costs in the region of $1,000/kw installed, but that does not take into consideration the ongoing cost of fuel, as well as the "externality costs" in impact on the environment and health.
Design
The company has relied heavily on 3D design and simulation software in developing the turbine, and has come up with essentially the same conclusion for hydro turbines as the wind industry has come up with -- a three bladed turbine.
Environmental Impact
The company is in the middle of a three-year environmental impact site study per the stipulations of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and will conclude in the Summer of 2008.
The company has allocated $2 million US to study the environmental impact of the turbine system. Their equipment and data collection includes hydro acoustic transducers that enable them to view aquatic activity around the turbines. They can observe as individual fish or schools of fish navigate through or around the turbines. Thus far, they have not observed any negative impact.
The 5-meter-diameter turbines spin at around 32 rpm. The leading edges of the blades are blunt so that if a fish happens to be in the path of the blade, it can sense the approaching blade and avoid being struck.
Water Craft
The company works closely both with local and other water-way groups to coordinate and mark the locations of the turbines, which are situated low enough beneath the surface for typical craft to pass over with no problem, if they happen to breach the marked-off segment of the river.
Competitor Technologies
Verdant Power has reviewed forty different closely related technologies from around the world and is satisfied that their design and approach is superior, leading the pack.
Profiles
Company: Verdant Power LLC
Verdant Power, a privately-held company, was established in 2000, growing steadily from a few generalist engineers assisting the company’s founders, to the diversified base of world-class designers, engineers, scientists and business professionals who make up the company today.
In addition to developing and commercializing Kinetic Hydropower System (KHPS) technology, Verdant Power also develops projects around the world and, under some circumstances, will serve as the owner-operator of projects.
The company expects to go public after commercial revenue begins to flow in 2008.
As of June, 2007, the company has 20 full-time personnel, with ten consulting engineers.
Cofounder: William "Trey" Taylor
featured in the Philadelphia Inquirer (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20070512_TIDE_POWER.html), May. 12, 2007
Coverage
Verdant Power has been featured in a number of televised segments.
In the News
- Press Clips (http://verdantpower.com/2007/05/16/2007/) (VerdantPower.com)
- Google News > "Verdant Power" (http://news.google.com/news?q=%22verdant%20power%22)
- In late Summer, 2007, National Geographic is going to be airing a segment on Verdant Power.
- On Sunday, June 10, 2007, Verdant Power will be featured on the Discovery Channel (http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=1.14365.25301.33977.1) at 9:00 pm EST
- Building the Future - The Search for Ultimate Energy (http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=1.14365.25301.33977.1) (Discovery Channel; June 10, 2007)
- War of the Tides (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/marketsmag/) (Bloomberg Markets; June 2007)
- Marine Energy: Tapping the Power of the Sea (http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?) (The Economist; April 28, 2007)
- Tidal Turbines Help Light Up Manhattan (http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18567/) ((MIT Technology Review; April 23, 2007)
- Catch a wave, throw a switch (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-04-18-wave-power_n.htm) (USA Today, Money; cover story; April 19, 2007)
- Underwater Turbines Use the Tide to Produce Electricity in NYC (http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=APAB&p_theme=apab&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=verdant%20power&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(%22verdant%20power%22)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no) (Associated Press; April 13, 2007)
- Underwater Wind Turbines Tap River Energy (http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/earth/4213223.html) by Eric Sofge (Popular Mechanics; April 2007)
- Powering Up Under Water (http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=a16561a2d9322a0e5953813fd7c930aa6fd8e41e) by Emily B. Hager (The New York Times Video; January 2, 2007)
- The Next Little Thing – An advance look at the big ideas coming from small businesses in 2007 - by Jeff Garigliano; (Fortune Small Business; December 2006 / January 2007)
- Verdant Enters Second Phase of Hydro-turbine Testing (http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=25114) - Phase two of the underwater turbine in the East River in New York entails 16-foot rotor, designed to generate 35 kW of power. A yaw system allows the turbines to rotate on a vertical axis. (Renewable Energy Access; New York; April 19, 2005)
- Tidal flow to power New York City (http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040809//full/040809-17.html) - Verdant Power planning to install turbines in the East River. $4.5-million project to build farm of tide-powered turbines. Starting at 6 turbines generating a total of 200kw; they plan to implement 200 - 300 turbines. (Nature; Aug. 13, 2004)
Other Coverage
- Google > "Verdant Power" (http://www.google.com/search?q=%22verdant+power%22)
Comments
Fish/Mammal Damage Inevitable
On June 10, 2007, New Energy Congress member, Ken Rauen wrote:
For as generally excellent that this technology seems to be, it does not clearly vindicate it from fish and mammal damage. It resembles wind turbines, and those are known to have deleterious effects on birds. Considerable energy is taken from these turbines, so shear rates near the blades, despite a lack of turbulence, can result in substantial shear forces on a fish near them. This keeps its rating below T20 for me.
On June 10, 2007, NEC member, Sterling D. Allan, wrote:
As I was writing this report today, and was trying to visualize a 5M diam blade spinning at 32 rpm, the thought struck me that that is not "slow". I'm no fish, but if I was, I certainly would not wish to veer into the path of one of these things.
Unlike wind turbines, the evidence of a kill is not going to be found at the base of the water turbine.
Despite Verdant spending $2 million on their environmental impact review, I have a hard time imagining them having enough money to watch every second of the six turbine's action to document the instances of fish kill. It's not like they're going to be able to see that one of the fish that came in proximity of the blade then goes 40 feet away before it stops moving, then to be carried another 100-1000 feet before it gets deposited somewhere in the river bed.
This factor makes this technology superior to fossil-fuel-based technologies, but not superior to other, less environmentally invasive technologies.
Free-Current Technology Turning Commercial
On June 10, 2007, New Energy Congress member, Adrian Akau wrote:
Marine Current Turbines will be testing a 1.2Mw version of its SeaGen in August (Ireland) and GE Energy Financial Services is investing $112 million into construction of a 196 megawatt run of the river Hydroelectric project (BC, Canada) with Plutonic Power Corperation. I think that free current energy production is beginning to turn commercial, though I do not know which technology in particular will prevail.
I like the duo turbine Sea Gen but it is probably good only for relatively shallow water. For deeper currents something else would have to be used.
Contact
http://verdantpower.com/contact
Verdant Power (Corporate Headquarters)
The Octagon
888 Main Street
New York, NY 10044
Verdant Power Canada ULC
5230 South Service Road
Burlington, ON L7L 5K2
Verdant Power New York, LLC
c/o Cooper Union Research Foundation
51 Astor Place
New York, NY 10003-7185
Verdant Power (Northwest Satellite)
1200 Fifth Avenue, Suite 180
Seattle, WA 98101
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