"Rising Tide: Local Opportunities for Tidal Energy Technology" Forum August 2nd in Woods Hole

Renewable Energy Forum - “Rising Tide: Local Opportunities for Tidal Energy Technology”

Dean Corren, director of marine current technology for Verdant Power, will describe his experiences leading the world’s first grid-connected demonstration of low-impact tidal energy technology at an August 2 forum presented by the Cape & Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative (CIRenew). Local tidal energy projects also will be discussed. This forum, free and open to the public, begins at 6:30 pm at the Woods Hole Research Center; light refreshments will be served, and information will be available on local energy programs and opportunities.

For Verdant Power, Mr. Corren plays key roles in the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Project, which for more than a year has been generating clean energy in New York’s East River while examining the ecological impacts of “kinetic hydropower devices,” which are analogous to underwater wind turbines. Pending the success of this pioneering demonstration, his company plans a larger project supplying the New York City grid, and it already is developing projects elsewhere in North America. Two other companies and the community of Edgartown are pursuing tidal energy initiatives in the Cape & Islands region.

“The Cape & Islands region has the best tidal energy resource in the state,” says Chris Powicki, CIRenew president. “As planning for local projects proceeds, this forum gives residents and decision-makers the opportunity to hear one of the nation’s leading experts speak about the benefits and issues associated with harnessing tidal energy.”

For Verdant Power, Mr. Corren leads efforts to design, fabricate, test, and deploy kinetic hydropower devices in marine environments and in rivers. He also coordinates development of intellectual property and interfaces with the company’s work in resource analysis and regulatory affairs. He holds a master’s degree from New York University in Energy Science and a bachelor’s in philosophy from Middlebury College and was a research scientist in the NYU Department of Applied Science, where he worked on wind, hydrogen, solar, biomass, and hydropower technologies. He patented the “Turbine for Kinetic Hydro Energy Conversion” (USPTO No. 4,613,279) in 1984. He also served four terms as a Vermont state representative, chaired the Burlington Electric Commission, and held a number of other government and organizational leadership positions.

CIRenew’s August 2 event on tidal energy complements previous 2008 forums on wave, geothermal, and bioenergy technologies, as well as a continuing series of classes and consumer workshops addressing energy efficiency, solar energy, wind energy, and green building. For more information on CIRenew, visit www.cirenew.org.

The Woods Hole Research Center is located at 149 Woods Hole Road in Woods Hole.

Release courtesy of CIRenew.