U.S. Water News Online
BOSTON -- Two proposals to erect windmills off Cape Cod would generate electricity by harnessing the wind. Now, a retired Cambridge engineer wants to use the power of water for the same purpose.
``The potential is tremendous. There's kinetic water energy everywhere. Mother Nature has been very kind to us,'' said Joseph Ignazio, 72, a Cambridge resident and owner of Helical Turbine of Massachusetts Inc.
A retired Army Corps engineer, Ignazio previously has produced such feats as the New Bedford hurricane barrier and the Charles River Dam.
Ignazio is asking the Army Corps of Engineers for permission to submerge a cargo container filled with six 10-foot-tall turbines that would be turned by tidal currents of up to 5 miles per hour.
As water flows through the container, the turbines will generate roughly 500 kilowatt hours daily -- enough to power more than a dozen homes. But he has yet to raise the money for the $200,000 experiment, which would be located near the Corps' Visitors Center in Sandwich. It would be lighted and outside the main shipping channel to minimize navigation hazards.
Scott Thayer, manager of Joe's Lobster Mart and a potential neighbor of the project, said he is ``all for something like this because the current really rips through here. But there's going to be a lot of red tape to cut through.''
The Corps hasn't taken a stance on the plan. The public has until Jan. 25 to respond.
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