DELHI - An ancient invention with a high-tech twist will soon be producing renewable energy east of Waterford.
GreenBug Energy of Delhi is ready to go to market with its first hydro-electric project based on the Archimedes screw.
The screw is a large, auger-like device that will rest in a casing at an old dam on Nanticoke Creek on the Fletcher Horse Farm north of Townsend Centre. The screw is 17 feet long and 52 inches in diameter. When the device comes on line, the Fletcher Horse Farm expects to cut its annual hydro bill by $10,000 a year.
“We’re just at the point where we are ready to go commercial,” said Tony Bouk, a partner in the company. “We’re really only going to market this year. Till now the focus has been on research.”
The device is named after Archimedes (287 B.C. – 212 B.C.), a mathematician, engineer and inventor in ancient Greece who discovered many of the basic principles of hydraulics. Primitive agrarian societies have used hand-cranked versions of Archimedes’ screw for centuries to move water around their fields in irrigation canals.
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