May 14, 2008

VERDANT POWER

Underwater turbine test units, such as those modelled above, will be deployed in the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall, Ontario in fall 2008.

Verdant Power tests free-flow turbines in St. Lawrence River

TERRY TINKESS

Correspondent

In 1958, the power of the St. Lawrence River at Cornwall, Ontario was harnessed through the development of the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Saunders/Moses hydro-generating system.

Fifty years later, the river is again being looked upon as a source of hydroelectric energy. This time, however, the process being considered is much less disruptive and potentially far more economical.

Later this year, Burlington, Ont.-based Verdant Power will instal its free-flow turbine technology at the bottom of the St. Lawrence River near Cornwall to test the feasibility of using the turbines on a larger scale.

The turbine looks like an underwater windmill. After being placed on the floor of the river, the turbine taps into the power of the river’s current to generate clean electricity.

The company says the turbine blades rotate slowly allowing fish to pass through safely with minimal environmental impact.

The project, funded in part by a $2.2 million investment by the Ministry of Research and Innovation, was announced in April at the Cornwall campus of St. Lawrence College.

In making the announcement, John Wilkinson, Minister of Research and Innovation, touted Ontario as a source of ideas with worldwide applications.

“Here’s a great example of how innovative solutions to long-term challenges like securing a renewable energy supply are being developed right here in Ontario,” says Wilkinson. “With this project we are demonstrating a clean, viable alternative source of energy — one that not only works in Ontario, but one we can export around the world.”

Trey Taylor, president of Verdant Power, says the CORE (Cornwall Ontario River Energy) project is scheduled to take place in the fall of 2008.

“There are two phases to the CORE project,” says Taylor. “The first phase is to test a new type of deployment system for putting units in and out of the water. In New York City, in the East River, we have systems underway that are very similar to what will be going on with the CORE project. In the East River they are mounted on pier-posts, and they are bi-directional; they can shift with the direction of the tide.

“What we are going to be doing on the first phase of the CORE project is a whole new system, a gravity-mounted system. There will be a framework where there might be three turbines mounted on a pod. This fall we will be using “dummy” turbines and testing deployment and retrieval systems, and for the most part using local resources.”

The advantage of this installation, according to Taylor, is that a pier system is concerned mostly with vertical pressures. The nature of the Verdant system is that the pressures are horizontal; the flow of the current of the pressures of the tide coming in and going out. The wider framework will allow each pod to maintain stability on the river bottom while at the same time being less costly and labour intensive. It will also avoid any drilling into the riverbed and any impact that process might have on the environment.

After the test is completed, the next step of phase one will be to put two next-generation turbines in the St. Lawrence River. Those will go in during the spring of 2009.

During this process Verdant will be conducting environmental impact studies on an ongoing basis to determine if there is any impact on the local species. Taylor says that their current studies of the East River installation have not revealed any problems.

Verdant estimates there is enough potential power in the water currents of Canada’s tides, rivers and manmade channels to generate 15,000 megawatts of clean electricity using its technology — enough to power over 11 million average-sized homes.

Print | Email | Comment