RENEWABLE CLEAN ENERGY FOR THE WORLD
No fish were harmed in the making of this video
No fish were harmed during the making of this video
The revolutionary Swordfish Horizontal Axis Hydrokinetic turbine is an advanced concept in hydrokinetic turbine design having the potential to bend the carbon-emissions curve and become a key component in reaching net-zero emissions.
What is Hydrokinetic Energy?
Hydrokinetic energy is the energy generated by the movement of a body of water.
The ebb and flow of ocean tides, and constant river flows provide a powerful renewable clean energy resource that is 100% predictable with centuries of proven reliability.
About Swordfish?
Swordfish Energy is a purpose-driven enterprise focused specifically on renewable clean energy through the use of its disruptive underwater turbine design. Swordfish Horizontal Axis, Bi-Directional Turbines are the most advanced underwater turbines in the industry. They can operate in more locations worldwide, including deep water, nearshore, and river environments producing clean, dependable energy up to 2 megawatts per unit, or gigawatts when established in arrays. Swordfish energy output can be predicted years in advance operating above 90% efficiency. That’s more than double the efficiency of wind and solar.
Swordfish is an underwater turbine that eliminates the need for generators that use fossil and other forms of dirty fuel, by producing clean, utility-grade electrical power from ocean tidal streams and river flows, to any size grid.
Unlike the poor efficiency of wind and solar power, Swordfish is nearly 90% efficient! 100% dependable! ….. and predictable for years in advance!
How Swordfish Works?
Water in motion is a powerful force!
Its density is nearly 900 times greater than air!
That is why underwater ‘propeller’ style turbines currently in use are known to be high maintenance products that are just not practical in an underwater environment. They are expensive to build, expensive to install, and expensive to maintain, and, when operating, they create dangerous high velocities that are life-threatening to sea creatures of all sizes.
Swordfish is uniquely different!
Rather than resisting the incredible power of TIDAL or RIVER flow like ‘propeller’ style turbines do, Swordfish takes advantage of its massive wing area to rotate gently. Swordfish just keeps -
Megawatts to Gigawatts!
Swordfish is a Horizontal Axis, Direct-Drive, Bi-Directional, Hydro-Kinetic Turbine that can be established as a single multi-megawatt unit or placed in arrays (multiple units) to generate Gigawatts of consistent utility-grade power. As dependable as the tides in an ocean environment or in constant river flow, whilst being harmless to water creatures and their habitat.
Swordfish has 'Absolute Zero' emissions with a life expectancy of 25+ years.
Due to its unique design profile, Swordfish is eligible for more location opportunities in 'near shore' environments with lower installation and maintenance costs in any location.
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Swordfish is the culmination of input from independent engineers with impressive and appropriate credentials, who care about the environment and who specialize in new forms of Green Energy concepts, Grid connectivity, Fluid Dynamics, Mechanical and Structural design with additional input from specialists in Marine Engineering and Industrial Hydrophobic Nano-Coatings.
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Swordfish is a new and unique, low-profile 'Patent Pending' design of scalable tidal and river flow constant and dependable power generation.
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Swordfish is safe for water creatures and vessels. It can be placed in rivers taking advantage of a mono-directional design or as nearshore and/or extreme depth ocean locations taking advantage of the bi-directional ebb and flow of the tides.
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Swordfish is low-maintenance due to its neutral buoyancy and self-cleaning design, which means seaweed and other underwater floating debris which can clog or jam conventional systems, will not affect Swordfish.
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Swordfish rotates slowly by "rolling with the flow" of water rather than resisting the flow like convention propeller blade designs that create dangerous high velocity, life-threatening rotation, and damaging cavitation.
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Swordfish is designed to prevent harm to sea life by allowing the water to flow over the aquaphobic, rotating 'wings' that naturally prevent contact with sea life, providing safe passage between the turbine wings.
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Swordfish installation and maintenance is cost-effective.
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Because Swordfish is intended for long-term global use, many of the large components can be manufactured 'on-site' during assembly which eliminates extraordinary shipping costs. As a 'Direct Drive' system, there are fewer components to break down.
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In addition, the Swordfish generator and its 'cradle" can be lowered to the chosen resting location as one single unit. In the same fashion, the combined Swordfish unit can be raised (floated) for maintenance when required.
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Due to its low profile, the Swordfish 'bi-directional 'tidal' unit can be placed in 'near shore' settings which not only makes installation easier and far less expensive, it provides a far greater choice and amount of suitable locations without sacrificing electrical energy output.
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In the alternative; due to the neutral buoyancy of the generator itself, Swordfish can be raised (floated) as a singular unit (without the cradle) by a much smaller vessel allowing for simple on-site maintenance.
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Swordfish will be remotely monitored by a parallel satellite-based system on a 24/7 basis.
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Swordfish is equipped with multiple sensors that monitor all critical components and aspects of the operation of each individual Swordfish unit.
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Primary monitoring is planned for use at the Swordfish head office and will monitor all Swordfish units worldwide. In addition, each client that owns, or is responsible for Swordfish units for their particular geographic area, receives the same sensor data and instant feedback on each Swordfish unit under their care.
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Swordfish is Scalable
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Due to its unique design, Swordfish can be made for river flow or tidal flow producing Gigawatts of output.
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Swordfish can be Portable
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As a temporary portable unit, Swordfish can replace noisy and polluting diesel generators, i.e., remote camps, military bases, temporary hospitals, etc. (nearby river required)
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Swordfish is Infinitely Stackable.
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Whether river or tidal flow placement is needed, Swordfish can be placed in arrays of multiple units in order to meet client energy demands.
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Swordfish is not visible! Swordfish is designed to be out-of-sight/out-of-mind to the general public.
What's Wrong with Typical Propeller Style Systems?
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Propeller or Blade style (like wind power) units can be harmful to sea life and are constantly damaged by floating debris and the ravages of cavitation.
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Due to the extreme blade length required by some designs, extreme depths are required for placement, in many cases over 300 feet (90 meters) which in turn requires a greater distance from shore requiring far more difficult installation and maintenance procedures.
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Propeller or Blade-style systems have many components to make them operate. The 'multi-geared' transmissions are under extreme stress during operation and are the first thing to go with many designs..
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Another point of failure for ALL propeller or blade style systems is the trailing edges of the blades. As the water flows over the blade, the trailing edge of the blade is subjected to extreme cavitation damage which eventually requires the entire unit to be raised, repaired, or replaced, then reinstalled. A huge and expensive undertaking!
About Tidal Energy
Tidal and ocean current energy can be exploited by building semi-permeable barrages (dam-like structures) across estuaries with a high tidal range, or harnessing offshore tidal streams. Unlike wind and waves, tidal and ocean currents are predictable years in advance. During high tides, barrages allow tidal waters to fill an estuary through sluices which then close when the tide begins to fall. Once the tide is low enough, the stored water is released at pressure through turbines. The Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and the Atlantic Northeast are likely areas for tidal energy production.
Tidal energy may be harnessed using offshore underwater devices similar to wind turbines. Submerged rotating devices capture energy through the processes of hydrodynamic lift or drag. These devices consist of rotor blades, a generator for converting the rotational energy into electricity, and a means for transporting the electrical current to the on-shore electrical grid. Submerged turbines can have either a horizontal or vertical axis of rotation. Mechanisms such as posts, cables or anchors are required to keep the turbines stationary relative to the tidal currents. Numerous horizontal axis turbines, similar to wind turbines are in use. Vertical axis turbine designs have been proposed, with some designs resembling egg beaters or kites.
Turbines may be anchored to the ocean floor in a variety of ways. They may be tethered with cables, using the relatively constant current interacting with the turbine to maintain location and stability. Imagine an underwater kite flying, where the kite is the upright turbine and the kite flyer is the anchor. The system may also include concentrators (or shrouds) around the blades to increase the flow and power output from the turbine. Another proposed design is mooring a barge in the current stream with a large cable loop to which water-filled parachutes are fastened. The parachutes would be pushed by the current and then closed on their way back, forming a loop similar to a large horizontal waterwheel. In large areas with powerful currents, it may be possible to install water turbines in groups or clusters to create a "marine energy facility" (similar to a wind energy facility). Turbine spacing would be determined based on wake interactions and maintenance needs.
Fish and Wildlife Considerations
Careful site selection is critical to minimizing the environmental impacts of hydrokinetic power systems. Currently, there is limited understanding of the environmental impacts of in-stream, tidal, ocean current, or wave hydrokinetic energy production because few of these projects are operational. All hydrokinetic energy devices may impact animal behavior, altering migration or other movements. Concern exists over impacts to benthic habitat, including fish foraging habitat, caused by the anchoring of underwater structures. Another concern is the effect of underwater noise and vibration. Underwater turbines may also cause entrainment (being sucked into the turbines) or impingement (pinned against a structure) of fish, birds, aquatic mammals, and reptiles.
Large-scale in-stream hydrokinetic projects have the potential to alter in-stream hydraulics (water movement and pressure), sediment transport and deposition, and other river characteristics. This may impact habitat quality and quantity both upstream and downstream of the project. Freshwater mussels, particularly threatened or endangered mussels may be adversely affected by the redistribution of sediments or the increased mortality of fish host species resulting from entrainment. The potential cumulative effects of in-stream hydrokinetic energy production are unknown but could be significant. In-stream hydrokinetic energy projects are being intensively explored in the Mississippi, Missouri, Penobscot, St. Lawrence, and Niagara rivers.
Concerns in marine hydrokinetic systems include impacts to marine animals sensitive to electric and magnetic fields, reduction in the size of intertidal areas, and collision with, or avoidance of energy generating devices. Some wave energy designs have features that extend many feet above the water surface and pose a potential collision risk for seabirds. The potential impact of large-scale tidal, ocean current, and wave energy projects on energy loss in the marine or estuarine ecosystem is poorly understood. Altering energy dynamics in an aquatic system may alter wave or current patterns and influence sediment transport and deposition. Possible indirect effects include displacement of mobile fauna and alterations in food availability. This may have the potential to affect the reproduction of species at higher trophic levels. Shoreline impacts may result from the construction and operation of infrastructure needed to transport the electrical current to an on-shore electrical grid.
The Swordfish Hydrokinetic Subaqueous Turbine design effectively addresses all of these concerns!
AWARDS
McGill; Canada's most prestigeous University, nominates Swordfish Energy for the 2023 Earth Shot Prize
WINNER
This 2022 Cleantech competition sponsored by Canada's Ocean Startup Project, a national Cleantech accelerator, This prize brought substantial recognition to Swordfish technology.
Swordfish Energy was a late entry to the Canadian Clean Tech competitions held in 2022, and as such, only two competitions were available. We won in both!
WINNER
This 2022 Clean 50 competition sponsored by Foresight, Canada's most prestigious Cleantech accelerator, evaluated 700 entries and selected Swordfish as one of the Top 50 'Most Investable Companies in Cleantech.