Giant Turbines Pulled From Beneath East River: See It

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Those who have glanced out to the East River sometime this week may have noticed a bright blue boat hoisting three enormous metal objects from beneath the water.

Those three objects are tidal turbines that were installed last October off the eastern coast of Roosevelt Island — part of an experiment in renewable energy to judge how effectively the tides can generate electricity.

This week, crews returned to the river to pull the three turbines — each measuring more than 16 feet in diameter — to pull them from the water for a maintenance exercise. They were retrieved Wednesday morning and set to be lowered back into the river sometime after 5 p.m. Thursday.

Their installation last fall was carried out by the company Verdant Power along with the U.S. Department of Energy, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation.

It marked a "major milestone for the marine energy industry," according to a video produced by the federal government, and the turbines set records for energy generation during their first 100 days of operation.

The project is all the more important now that New York hs closed down the Indian Point nuclear power plant, creating an energy gap that will likely be filled largely by fossil fuels.

Underwater, the 35-kilowat turbines connect to underwater cables, which in turn connect to vaults on the shoreline that link to a control room, according to Power Technology. They have delivered electricity to a Gristedes supermarket and an RIOC parking facility.

If successful, the East River experiment could pave the way for more widespread use of tidal turbines — especially larger, 10-meter turbines, which are more economically viable, according to the Department of Energy.