Sundermann Water Power is developing a submerged water turbine which drives a generator to deliver up to 100 kW per turbine. A number of turbines can be combined into “banks” to deliver 1 MW per bank. The turbine has been designed specifically to maximize operational efficiency in slow-to-medium water flows of 6-12 knots.

A unique characteristic of the SWP turbine is the rotation system of the blades. The blades rotate half a revolution for every revolution of the drum to which the blade shafts are attached.

Looking at the above, the tidal water (flowing from the bottom to the top in this sketch) provides a force to the blade positioned at right angles to the flow of the water, as well as the blade at the bottom and the blade at the top, in such a way that ALL these 3 blades contribute a force which move the central shaft in the same direction (anti-clockwise in this sketch). The only blade which does not contribute a force in the same direction is the blade which is parallel to the water flow (the blade on the left in this sketch). Since this blade is aligned in the same direction as the water flow it offers minimal resistance.

Thus each blade contributes a unidirectional force around the central drive shaft for most of the time in each cycle.

The turbine is able to operate in either direction which makes it ideal for tidal water flows.

The break-through technology has been championed by the engineering community worldwide, specifically, the way the blades tilt during a rotating cycle.

One version of the Sundermann Water Turbine has been designed to fit into a shipping container for transportation.

Container-sized components have been designed to allow each to be locked to another so that multiple turbine units can be joined together to form a larger working unit.