Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Pilot Project

The Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) pilot project was the first commercially-licensed tidal power project in the United States. The RITE project operated under a Hydrokinetic Pilot Project License from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and a 401 Water Quality Certification from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. It featured a half-scale tidal array deployed in the East Channel of the East River, a tidal strait connecting Long Island Sound with the Atlantic Ocean in New York Harbor. Three units of the Gen5 KHPS tidal turbines were installed on the TriFrame mount, generating more than 312 MWh of clean energy delivered to the grid over the length of the project. The project was successfully decommissioned in 2021 having achieved Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 9.

openei.org

Project Manager

Verdant Power

Additional Information

Project Website

Project Status Is the project actively being planned or is deployed in the water (active)? Or was the project canceled or completed (inactive)?

Inactive

Project Life Cycle Project Progress through life cycle:<ul> <li>Planned: Project has identified a deployment location and is preparing for deployment</li> <li>Operational: Project is deployed in the water and is active</li> <li>Completed: Project was previously deployed in the water</li> <li>Decommissioned: Installation has been fully removed in accordance with regulations</li> <li>Canceled: Project was canceled before being deployed in the water</li></ul>

Decommissioned

Max Rated Power Capacity The maximum amount of electricity that can be produced by project, based on available resources and device nameplate capacity.

1.05 MW

Operational Duration

October 2020 - December 2021

Project Duration

2012 - 2021

Energy Resource

Tidal

Project Scale

Full-scale

Number of Devices

3

Grid Connectivity

Grid Connected

Waterbody

East Channel, East River, New York

Site Characteristics Geographic characterization for the project location:<ul> <li>Open Ocean: Main body of ocean, not enclosed or partially enclosed by land</li> <li>Coastal: Open water near the coast, spanning between land and shelf boundary</li> <li>Enclosed Bay: water that is partially surrounded by land, with a mouth open to larger water</li> <li>Constricted Channel: A channel where water flows quickly due to narrowing by the land</li> <li>River: Water flowing from land towards a larger body of water</li></ul>

Constricted Channel

Country

United States

Environmental Details

Tethys Metadata

Last Modified

24 June 2025

This Project has the following MRE Devices

Citation Formats

“Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Pilot Project.” Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects, PRIMRE, United States Department of Energy, https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/Roosevelt_Island_Tidal_Energy_(RITE)_Pilot_Project. Accessed <day> <monthRoman> <year>.

Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects. <year>. "Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Pilot Project." Accessed <monthRoman> <day>, <year>. https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/Roosevelt_Island_Tidal_Energy_(RITE)_Pilot_Project.

PRIMRE/Databases/Projects Database/Projects/Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Pilot Project

Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy (RITE) Pilot Project

This Project has the following MRE Devices

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