NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy 

Efficiency & Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308

FFP/NREL Collaboration on 

Hydrokinetic River Turbine 

Testing

Cooperative Research and Development 

Final Report

CRADA Number: CRD-12-00473

NREL Technical Contact: Frederick Driscoll

CRADA Report

NREL/TP-7A10-57652

April 2013
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Cooperative Research and Development Final Report

In accordance with Requirements set forth in Article XI.A(3) of the CRADA document, this document is 

the final CRADA report, including a list of Subject Inventions, to be forwarded to the Office of Science 

and Technical Information as part of the commitment to the public to demonstrate results of federally 

funded research.

CRADA Number: CRD-12-00473 

CRADA Title: FFP/NREL Collaboration on Hydrokinetic River Turbine Testing 

Parties to the Agreement: Free Flow Power Corporation 

Joint Work Statement Funding Table showing DOE commitment: 

Estimated Costs NREL Shared Resources

Year 1 $ 55,000.00

Year 2 $ 00.00

Year 3 $ 00.00

TOTALS $ 55,000.00

Abstract of CRADA work: 

This shared resources CRADA defines collaborations between the National Renewable Energy 

Laboratory (NREL) and Free Flow Power (FFP) set forth in the following Joint Work Statement. Under 

the terms and conditions described in this CRADA, NREL and FFP will collaborate on the testing of 

FFP’s hydrokinetic river turbine project on the Mississippi River (baseline location near Baton Rouge, 

LA; alternate location near Greenville, MS). NREL and FFP will work together to develop testing plans, 

instrumentation, and data acquisition systems; and perform field measurements.

Summary of Research Results: 

NREL participated in the deployment of FFP’s hydrokinetic river turbine in the Mississippi River near 

Plaquemine, LA under this CRADA. A detailed testing plan was developed for loads and performance 

testing. NREL’s MOISyt instrumentation system was customized at the NWTC then installed and 

calibrated at the FFP mobilization site near Port Allen, LA. MOISyt was configured to measure:

1. structural loads in the hub supporting the rotor blades

2. the 6 DOF motion of the turbine

3. 3 orthogonal vibrations of the turbine

4. water velocity and direction

5. voltage and current on all three phases of the output power
2 

MOISyt was also configured to operate a pan and tilt video camera and deliver streaming video. Shortly 

after deployment of the turbine, the turbine was recovered because of structural problems and it was 

subsequently returned to the mobilization site in Port Allen. All of the MOISyt system was recovered in 

working order.

Subject Inventions Listing: None

Report Date: 2/1/2013 Responsible Technical Contact at Alliance/NREL: Frederick Driscoll

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