Tidal Energy | CORE Project
New York based power company Verdant Power have proposed the Cornwall Ontario River Energy (CORE) project that will put tidal turbines on the floor the St Lawrence River between New York and Ontario. This project will demonstrate the feasibility and commercial viability of the company’s Free Flow™ Turbine.
The project is projected at 15MW with the current of the St Lawrence River expected to be strong enough to produce enough electricity to power 11,000 homes. The project will be completed in 2 phases over 4 years. Initial operations having begun in 2007, it is expected that the commercial demonstration will be on-line in 2011.
A boon to the project is the news that the Ontario Government is investing $2.2 million into the project. The investment by the Ontario Government comes as part of its Innovation Demonstration Fund, an initiative that provides support for bio-based, environmental and alternative energy technologies.
The turbine looks like an underwater windmill. Installed on the floor of the river, the turbine taps into the power of the river’s current to generate clean electricity. The turbine blades rotate slowly allowing fish to pass through safely with minimal environmental impact.
The Free Flow™ Turbine is a three-blade horizontal-axis turbine designed to capture the currents of tidal or river currents. The turbines are scalable to be adapted to carying sites and can be grouped into small or large clusters as appropriateto best utilise the available space.
February 17th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
even am doing the same project in my college.but do not know the exact blade design for the underwater windmill. can anyone please provide the designs and some tips to do at college level .and also i need to jnow the material of the blades.