PSU Magazine Fall 2005

Trey Taylor '69 is heading a company that harnesses water power in an innovative new way. By Melissa Steineger I magine an army of futuristic wind– mills marching along a ridge, arms spinning, converting the moving air into electricity. Now picture that same energy army-miniaturized-spinning underwater in the current of the Willamette River. You're seeing one of the oldest energy sources on Earth, and what may be the energy future of the world-water power. Poised to make a boulder-sized splash in this fledgling industry is William "Trey" Taylor '69, co-founder of Verdant Power. The company turns ocean currents, tides, and rivers into electricity using underwater "wind– mills" the size of a Mini-Cooper car. Now, with Taylor at the helm as president, Verdant Power has a $2 mil– lion grant for a test project. U success– ful, the demonstration wi.ll launch a $20 million project to provide clean, renewable electricity to New York City. And maybe the world. Exciting potential exists around the globe for tiny turbines , because unlike building a dam, a community or gov– ernment can buy a dozen river tur– bines today and a dozen next year, as the need increases or money becomes available. Taylor calls it "infrastructure in a bag. " The demand could be huge-nearly 34 percent of the Earth's population has no electricity. But other nations and international organizations with deep pockets, like the World Bank, want proof before committing. "They say, get these going in the U.S. first to prove the viability," says Taylor. And so he is. In a one-mile stretch of New York's East River, smack in front of the United Nations building, Verdant will plop down six demonstration turbines. Six to eight feet below the river's sur– face and 50 to 100 feet apart, the cigar-shaped turbines will gently nose back and forth in the current like wind socks, their 16-foot arms spinning at about the speed of a revolving door, according to Taylor. Although the technology is expected to be environmentally benign, Verdant is working closely with New York environmental groups