A Maryland firm has proposed tapping energy from the Indian River Inlet's fast tidal currents by fixing a chain of single-file floating turbines to the inlet bottom, with electricity generated on incoming and outgoing tides.

Annapolis-based UEK Corp. is scheduled to brief a Center for the Inland Bays committee this week. The system's designer said the 56-turbine system could generate about 10.8 megawatts of electricity, or enough to meet the energy needs of 4,000 to nearly 10,000 homes.

"You can actually install and retrieve the turbines very easily, and you can operate at any depth," said Philippe Vauthier, president of UEK Corp. "When we have the green light and people are satisfied with the presentation, then we'll go to the next step."

Vauthier said his firm has approval to install a one-way turbine system in the Yukon River near Eagle, Alaska, close to the border with Canada. Tidal power stations produced by other groups already are in operation in Canada, France, Russia and China. None currently operate in the United States, although UEK's system has undergone tests in the Chesapeake Bay.

"At this time there are a lot of people talking, but nobody has equipment ready to be installed," Vauthier said. "This could be the first installed in the United States."

Center for the Inland Bays Education and Outreach Coordin-ator Ed Lewandowski said citizen advisers to the center were the first to suggest looking at the technology, which would require state and federal permits. The center, a conservation and environmental program funded mainly by federal and state governments, has no direct approval role.

"It's a novel idea, and they've completed a feasibility study," Lewandowski said. "I don't know that the study detailed the ecological impact of the system."

Tidal currents through the Indian River Inlet are among the fastest on the East Coast, Vauthier said.

The same scouring currents have challenged boaters and highway engineers for decades. Delaware's Department of Transportation last month proposed a new, $65 million bridge across the inlet to replace one threatened by the undermining effects of inlet tides.

Vauthier, who received a patent for his tidal turbine design in October 2000, said the line of turbines would extend most of the inlet's length with the westernmost placed near the proposed new bridge crossing. The turbines would be placed in 28 pairs. Water pressure would turn each turbine at about one rotation per second, a speed that Vauthier said was unlikely to threaten juvenile or adult fish that stray into the area.

UEK is short for "underwater electric kite," a term the inventor chose to graphically describe features that let tidal currents adjust the turbines to make electricity regardless of the flow direction.

"The housing of the turbine is actually working like a kite, a Chinese box kite," Vauthier said. "This is the result of 23 years of testing and design and a lot of failures."

Installations would take about two years and cost about $10 million, putting the cost per kilowatt hour at about $1,000, Vauthier said, adding that the company is still searching for funding. The systems would generate electricity about 64 percent of the time, roughly double the amount of time anticipated for many wind-powered systems.

A New York company, Winergy LLC, has proposed leasing up to 306 sites in a 67-square-mile tract of federal waters off Delaware's southernmost coast for tower-mounted turbines that could produce 1,100 megawatts of electricity. Similar Winergy plans are under formal review for offshore areas of other states, but the company has yet to submit an application for Delaware.

"If we could in some way take advantage of that natural current in the inlet to produce power, it would make a lot more sense," said Sen. George Bunting (D-20th District), who said he supports closer study of the idea.

Vauthier said power generated by the underwater turbines would qualify for federal programs that reward electricity generation by environmentally friendly means.

Turbines would be anchored to the inlet bottom well below navigation depths, but are designed to float away if they break loose, with locator beacons attached for quick retrieval. Design features minimize threats to fish moving near the turbines, while allowing the system to take advantage of both incoming and outgoing currents.

Reach Jeff Montgomery at mailto:wave@smgpo.gannett.com

Originally published Wednesday, September 10, 2003