By Gregg Hoffmann
You won’t likely see any turbines off the west coast of Wisconsin in the near future, but downstream in the Mississippi River a project is being considered for electricity-generating turbines.
The experimental technology seems worth exploring and definitely could have a positive impact on energy for the Midwest.
Free Flow Power Corp., a New England based startup company is pursuing a $3 billion plan to install thousands of small electric turbines in the river bed, primarily reaching from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico. The turbines would generate 1,600 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 1.5 million homes.
The Gloucester, Mass.-based company is among a number of developers of so-called hydrokinetic projects, defined as those that produce electricity from river currents or ocean waves and tides rather than dams.
Free Flow Power already has preliminary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to study 59 sites on the river. The company is interested in the lower Mississippi because the stretch of the river has minimum average river flows of about 6.5 miles per hour. The sites between St. Louis and New Orleans were among the best the company found and are also near electricity markets in the Midwest and Southeast.
The Upper Mississippi does not seem to meet some of the flow requirements. Winter weather also could hamper the effectiveness of the turbines. The Upper Mississippi also includes one of the largest wildlife preserves in the country.
There are some concerns in general about the effect of the turbines on wildlife and the environment. The projects also likely will face close scrutiny by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which must assure the turbines don’t interfere with river navigation.
In January, an official with the Missouri Department of Conservation urged FERC to require an environmental impact statement on the “cumulative effects of proposed hydrokinetic power projects.”
“The department has serious reservations regarding the installation and operation of hydrokinetic power within the Mississippi River,” Janet Sternberg, a policy coordinator for the department, said in a letter to FERC. “Little information is available regarding the environmental impacts of a single project, or the cumulative environmental impacts from 14 projects that may affect more than 74 miles of the river.”
Most certainly, the environment and navigation have to get priority over any new technology that could harm either. But, the turbines seem like they would have much less of a negative impact than dams currently used to generate electricity.
The turbines, which would be attached to pilings in the river bed, are about 2 feet in diameter and probably would be made of carbon fiber or another lightweight composite material. The river’s natural flow would spin the turbines to generate electricity, which would be transmitted to the power grid.
Free Flow’s proposed project in the Mississippi is not the first in the country. Virginia-based Verdant Power began testing underwater turbines, resembling the large wind turbines sprouting up across the Midwest, in New York City’s East River off New York in late 2006. A larger commercial project is planned for Canada’s St. Lawrence River.
Another company, Houston-based Hydro Green Energy LLC, is pursuing projects in the Mississippi. Still others are developing technologies that would generate electricity from ocean waves and tides.
Electricity generated by the turbines would not be cheap. Conventional hydroelectric power would be cheaper, but the turbine-generated methods would be competitive with fossil fuel based systems. And, again, it’s believed that turbines would have less of a negative effect on the river than dams.
Free Flow officials hope to be generating electricity by 2012. If the efforts in the lower Mississippi are successful, it’s not beyond the realm that the technology could be adapted for use in the Upper Mississippi.
It certainly looks like yet another alternative energy worth exploring.
