A section of the East River in New York City holds what may be the world’s cleanest power generation method, according to some.

A few months ago, six turbines were lowered into the river and installed on the riverbed, not far from shore. Think wind turbine meets submarine. The objective is to harness the power of the constantly moving and shifting tide in this section of the river.

Different from hydroelectric power, which retains and releases water to create electricity, hydrokinetic power uses the same concept as wind turbines, only underwater. Unlike wind, rivers are constantly flowing, thus there’s always power to be generated from the turbine. Tides can also be charted and predicted much more accurately than wind, adding another degree of stability.

However, it seems that much more research needs to be done in the field of hydrokinetic power. Just weeks after Mayor Bloomberg formally dedicated the turbines, they’re being pulled out of the water for repair and redesign. In the first few weeks of operation, the river current actually snapped off large chunks of the blades.

The company overseeing the whole operation, Verdant Power, is only five years old. Are the continuing problems with the design of the turbines stemming from greenhorn mistakes? Or is it because this has never been done in the East River before?

Either way, the company plans to get its act together and redesign and install the turbines, hoping to eventually install up to 300 of them, creating enough pristine energy to power 8,000 homes.