NYC Storm Shield

After Hurricane Sandy, I have seen proposals for a seawall to protect NYC from storm swells. This would be similar to the massive Deltawerken Dutch seawall project. Perhaps a good way to justify such a massive public works project would be to make the seawall a tidal generating station. The flow from the Hudson (as well as the tidal flow) should be enough to generate power across the entire face of the seawall. The generating sections would be locked down and form a wall in the event of a storm, and open and generating power the rest of the time. Making the seawall generate power would offset the cost of construction by providing a way of paying back the initial investment. The project would also allow public funds to be used for a model/pilot plant. The resulting R&D could be used for future tidal power projects, as it would be public knowledge. The project would keep people employed (economic stimulus now) with a lasting long term benefit of power generation. This is all in addition to protecting NYC from Hurricane Sandy-styled storm surges.


I’m not sure how you deal with ship traffic, as these seawalls usually have an opening in the middle that allows the transit of shipping. When that center portion is open, I believe you would have a lessening of power generated across the seawall, as fluid flows tend to follow the path of least resistance. This is a technical issue that could be solved, I’m sure.

Dutch Engineers are world leaders in this technology, so perhaps they would be willing to cooperate with us in the design. They would also benefit by developing the power generating technology, and may employ it in their own seawalls.

Perhaps the structure could also be topped with a motorway, as I understand that the condition of some of the existing NYC bridges is such that they will need to be replaced at some time in the next few decades anyway.

Politically, I believe that technology such as this that benefits so many should be government developed so that it can be freely shared, but that is another issue. I realize the political environment is not conducive to big government projects right now, so perhaps, once constructed, it could be turned over to a utility which would collect the fees from the power generated in order to provide maintenance. Perhaps other locations could be sited to copy the concept, which might find private power companies interested in repeating the project in other estuaries and bays that need tide surge protection.

NYC is such a crown jewel of our country, it is the perfect place to construct such a showcase of engineering. Projects such as this also generate public interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathmatics) disciplines, which furthers our competitiveness, similar to the boost STEM disciplines got from the moon shot.