CBS News Reports On Verdant Power Roosevelt Island East River Tidal Energy Project - Verdant Collaborating With Cornell NYC Tech On Marine Energy Project And Virtual Power Plant

Image of Verdant Power Water Turbine Being Installed On Roosevelt Island August 2012

CBS News reported today on Verdant Power's Roosevelt Island East River Tidal Energy Project. According to CBS News:

... In the middle of the river sits Roosevelt Island, a narrow, 150-acre strip of land that serves as the home base for a company called Verdant Power. Verdant has spent the last decade trying to harness the current flowing past the island to create a new kind of green power source - one that comes from underwater turbines that look a bit like giant electric fans.

"They look a lot like wind turbines, except they're smaller because they have to fit entirely underwater," said Dean Corren, Verdant's director of technology....

Last August, I interviewed Verdant Power President Trey Taylor as their 5th generation water turbine prototype was being installed in the East River. Here's what Mr. Taylor had to say.



According to Green Energy News:

Cornell University and Verdant Power Inc., signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the intention of entering into a long-term relationship centered on research and other activities related to Marine & Hydrokinetic (MHK) technologies. Verdant Power's MHK project on Roosevelt Island in New York City is the first commercially licensed tidal energy plant in U.S. It remains the only project in the world where an array of tidal energy turbines has successfully been deployed and operated. Cornell University is building Cornell Tech, its new applied sciences campus on Roosevelt Island. Cornell's researchers and Verdant Power share the vision of an array of underwater turbines in the East River off Roosevelt Island, permitted by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Pilot License (#P-12611).

Verdant Power's Trey Taylor also spoke to me about future plans on Roosevelt Island and with Cornell NYC Tech to develop a "virtual power plant".



It's true - Roosevelt Island is at the forefront of American technology innovation. As Mr. Taylor says, "that's pretty cool"