Tidal power project seeking to expand

A company that has spent the past five years testing underwater turbines to generate power using the ebb and flow of tides plans to expand a project in the East River before eyeing waters around Long Island and beyond.

On Dec. 29, energy startup Verdant Power filed an application with federal regulators seeking to drop up to 30 tidal turbines in the east channel of the East River by year end. If completed, it would be the first such project connected to the public power grid.

Regulators say it is the first project to be applied for under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's new "pilot licensing program," which aims to speed approval to six months rather than years, said commission spokeswoman Celeste Miller.

The plan is to "to try to get these types of projects in the water as quickly as possible while at the same time looking at the environmental impacts," Miller said.

Since 2006, Verdant has spent more than $30 million testing turbines bolted to the floor of the East River to perfect the concept of generating power with tidal waters.

An early prototype didn't hold up to fierce river waters, but Verdant has redesigned the turbines. They will sit on a triangular base dropped onto the riverbottom, said Verdant president and co-founder Trey Taylor.

The company's aim is to install 250 megawatts of tidal power turbines in Long Island Sound, the Hudson River, the Verrazano Narrows, Canada and Britain by 2016. The East River project will generate around 1 megawatt when complete. A megawatt of tidal power would provide energy for around 400 homes, according to Verdant calculations.

>"We have spots picked out," Taylor said. "We're beginning to look at Long Island Sound now."

Taylor said the limited power output of its earlier models could be greatly increased in deeper waters.

One limitation of the East River project is the shallow depths. As the company eyes deeper waters, it can consider larger turbines, Taylor said.

One big unanswered question is the funding Verdant needs to expand. To date much of its financing - around half the $30 million it has spent during its profitless half decade of business - has come from state and federal grants, including the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency and New York City.

Verdant had previously filed with FERC to secure leases for waters around Long Island, but it lost out to another company, Natural Currents Energy Services. That company's founder, Roger Bason, said it has since given up those leases to instead focus on New Jersey waters, making them available.

"The regulatory process is a huge barrier," said Bason, noting that companies that file lease applications must soon undertake environmental studies. He described Long Island as "a very promising area" and said he hopes for more state and federal support for the projects.

Energy and business experts have mixed views on tidal power's potential for Long Island.

"You have to be very shortsighted not to see we're surrounded by water - let's use it," said Shelly Sackstein, a former Long Island Power Authority trustee and chairman of Action Long Island, a business group that has commissioned a study of tidal energy.

Tides are more predictable than winds as an energy source, he noted.

"It's probably more benign than dragging cables across Long Island or putting windmills in the ocean. It's the first step that needs to be taken."