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This kind of energy is unique and different from traditional hydropower that has been around for centuries. There is no need to build a dam. Essentially a turbine is stuck in naturally flowing water. As the water flows, it turns a turbine. That is converted to electricity. It’s hard to believe, but it’s a brand new opportunity. Europe is way ahead. The US is playing catch up.

Ocean and tidal currents are capable of providing a virtually inexhaustible supply of emission-free renewable energy. Since tidal and river currents exist everywhere in the world and are either constantly flowing or extremely predictable, converting the energy in these currents to electricity could provide a predictable, reliable and, in some cases, base load supply of electricity to the electric power systems or remote sites in many parts of the world. Seventy percent (70%) of the world's population lives within 200 miles of an ocean. Accordingly, ocean current energy could become a vital part of the world's energy future.

The tremendous growth in renewable energy over the past several years is well documented and the rate of growth continues to increase each year. With worldwide awareness of the negative environmental impacts of fossil fuels on our global environment, growth in the use of renewable energy appears to be constrained only by the ability to produce and deliver it at an economic price. Wind power, for example, once considered a fringe energy technology, has now entered the mainstream and has been the fastest growing segment of the energy industry over the last several years. Congress' 2005 Energy Bill is the first major piece of U.S. legislation to recognize the vast potential of the waves and currents for deriving clean, renewable energy from our oceans. This pivotal legislation includes many incentives that are expected to accelerate the development and commercialization of technologies to produce electric power from the oceans. This bill also authorized funding of $632 million in fiscal year 2007, $734 million in fiscal year 2008 and $852 million in fiscal year 2009 for renewable energy research, development, demonstration and commercial application projects, including ocean energy projects. These, and other incentives, bode well for the continued development of ocean energy technologies, and the commercialization of ocean energy projects at an increasing pace.

While wind generation is rapidly expanding and is an important piece of solving the world's energy needs, wind resources are limited, power generated by wind is not predictable and "view shed" and "not-in- my-back-yard" issues restrict development of wind projects. In fact, view shed issues have become a major obstacle for develop of most projects, regardless of their societal benefits.

Ocean power generation, on the other hand, has essentially unlimited development potential, is predictable, if not constant. Although power generated from ocean energy can be directly "plugged into" coastal load centers and remote communities, it is not restricted to these markets. A system for marketing renewable energy in the United States and Canada now exists called "Green Tag". This market system allows a power producer to generate renewable energy in one location and sell it anywhere in the country to satisfy local renewable portfolio standards that have been mandated by various states. Other large markets for ocean derived power include the Federal Power Administrations, such as the Western Area Power Administration, and the United States military, which is under a mandate to increase purchases of renewable energy as an energy independence and national security strategy. [

Internationally, the market for renewable energy is virtually unlimited. In European Union countries, for example, a considerable premium over fossil fuel generation is currently being paid for "green" power. There are many potential sites for ocean current energy in Northern Europe near the United Kingdom, in Southern Europe near the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as off the coasts of South America, Africa and Japan, and many of these countries are providing special incentives to ocean renewable energy projects. In addition, there are countless numbers of island communities where ocean currents accelerate around and between land masses. Coastal communities throughout the world will be the primary beneficiaries of ocean power due to the presence of strong ocean and tidal currents and insufficient energy supply.

Recent studies of the current flows in an area of the preferred site within the Florida Current are promising. At 50 meters below the surface, for example, the water velocity distribution was found to be Gaussian. Flows are very consistent - in the range of 0.642 to 2.435 meters per second (1.25 to 4.73 knots) 99.7% of the time (within three standard deviations of the mean). Moreover, the flow direction varies only 1.5 degrees from an otherwise steady northerly direction of flow. At 50 meters below the water surface, the mean velocity is 1.54 meters per second (3.0 knots) with a standard deviation of 0.2988.

The greatest potential for development of tidal current projects in the United States is in Alaska, where tidal flows are greater than anywhere else in the United States. For example, tides in Anchorage within the upper Cook Inlet of Alaska exceed thirty (30) feet and tidal current flows can exceed 8 knots. While Alaska has been an energy rich state with only 626,000 residents and 2,500 MW of electricity generating capacity, most of the state is now paying substantially higher energy rates than those in the "lower 48." The reasons for this reversal in energy fortunes is that the low cost natural gas in the Anchorage area is rapidly being depleted and there is little or no infrastructure to get the remote energy resources to the areas where it is needed the most. In many areas, electricity is produced by old and inefficient diesel generating plants that are prohibitively expensive and must be subsidized by the state. In reasonably populated areas, the average electric supply rate is approximately $0.12 to $0.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWH) and in rural areas, the rate can reach $0.75 per kWH or more. Due to the severe terrain, weather and environmental constraints in Alaska, there is no integrated transmission system, which has resulted in the proliferation of nearly 120 public and municipal owned utilities.

For the above reasons, the upper Cook Inlet of Alaska can be a primary target for the development of tidal current projects. In addition to providing much needed electricity to the Anchorage area, where approximately one-half of the state's population lives, tidal current generators can be located in tidal currents near to shore in remote, local "pockets" of demand.

Australia's biggest tides occur off the north-west coast of Western Australia (around Derby in the King Sound) and in far north Queensland. The highest of all Australian tides and the second highest tide in the world happens near Derby, WA, in late March and again in late April. The tides peak at 11.8 meters and drop to the other extreme of about 1.5m at low tide.

Using the technology developed herein, off-shore ocean currents could also be used for the production, storage and shipment of hydrogen and/or potable water from sea water from off-shore production facilities. With the abundance of sea water and availability of low cost electricity, as well as the viability of off-shore platform operations as demonstrated in the off-shore oil industry, hydrogen and/or potable water could be produced, stored and shipped in tankers to markets around the world.

Submersible jet self augmented turbine (see a picture here) according to several inventions utilize recent technological advances from several industries and incorporate them into an integrated power system. The industries which have provided these technological advances include the off-shore oil and gas, wind power generation, maritime, shipping and telecommunications. These technological advances include not only unique designs and equipment but also state of the art advanced materials, including composite materials.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A submersible jet turbine unit  for ocean, river and tidal currents may comprise:

• One or more highly efficient vertcal axis jet turbines rotate in one direction only, regardless of the direction of flow of the current;

• A compact design that allows for shop fabrication of the turbine generator units and allows them to be "stacked" in a modular configuration, thereby creating submersible platforms (modules) containing one or more turbine generator units and enabling easy assembly and maintenance in the field;

• A linear configuration wherein the one ore more turbines and at least one over water generator rotate on a common shaft (or shaft extensions) and wherein no gears exist between the turbines and generator;

• A horizontal configuration where the turbines and generator operate in a horizontal plane to maximize efficiency and minimize inefficiencies caused by variations in current velocity generally existing at different depths;

• An optional vertical configuration for deployment in natural and/or manmade waterways having substantially uniform flow velocities through a continuous range of depths; and - A submersible permanent magnet generator connected to the one or more turbines by a common rotating shaft (or shaft extensions) and preferably housed in a watertight enclosure.

High efficient JET  BLADE of innovative under water free stream turbines operating in omni-directional flows