Abstract
In January 2012, FERC issued the first 10 year US pilot license to Verdant Power for the installation of up to 30 KHPS turbines in the east channel of the East River, accepting the results for both Endangered Species Act species and Essential Fish Habitat and incorporating a suite of seven RMEE plans in a staged monitoring strategy with adaptive management. As part of the start of construction and the final technology development—with partial funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA)4 and the US Department of Energy5 (DOE) — following a year of preparatory work in September 2012, Verdant successfully completed an in-water test of an updated KHPS turbine rotor including composite blades and concurrently deployed a remotely aimed DIDSON (RAD) system. The RAD hydroacoustics data are the subject data that are further analyzed in this report. As required by the FERC license, the actual deployment and operation of a full-scale kinetic hydropower device and the concurrent deployment of a DIDSON provided the unique opportunity to observe and address the questions most important to aquatic resource managers and regulators.