Verdant Power has been selected by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) to continue a project advancing its TriFrame foundation with $3.75 million of second-phase funding.
The project is part of an EERE Water Power Technologies Office initiative to drive down the cost of MHK energy by improving installation, operation, and maintenance (IO&M) strategies.
The Verdant Power TriFrame optimizes turbine spacing and support structures to allow for cost-effective IO&M. The TriFrame allows for three turbines to be installed together as a single system and retrieved with one on-water operation.
Over three phases, and utilizing a team with experience in subsea design and installation, the selected Verdant Power project includes the execution of an integrated design process that considers and analyzes a range of options for TriFrame structural, hydrodynamic, and environmental performance, along with associated operational requirements for system IO&M.
In phases two and three of the project, a full-scale TriFrame equipped with three Verdant Power fifth generation KHPS turbines will be manufactured and ultimately demonstrated at the company’s Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Project in New York City’s East River. Technical and environmental performance will be measured during the demonstration and all developed IO&M operations will be conducted to inform cost reduction analyses.
Verdant Power completed phase one of the project in March 2017 and was evaluated and awarded continued funding by EERE through a competitive selection process.
“Verdant Power is honored to have been selected as one of the firms to proceed to the final stages of this EERE initiative,” stated John Banigan , CEO of Verdant Power. “We are excited to demonstrate a next-generation IO&M solution that has the potential to greatly reduce operational expenditures and bring MHK into cost- competitiveness with other forms of renewable energy.”
In addition to Verdant Power, the project team includes engineering consultancy Ramboll Environ, marine operations firm Mojo Maritime, Kleinschmidt Associates, Cornell University, and senior manufacturing consultant Manufacturing Resources Inc., among other partners.