Verdant Power Inc., the leading U.S. tidal power developer, and the China Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Group (CECEP), a renewable energy company, have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop tidal energy projects in China. The agreement is the first of its kind between China and the U.S. involving marine and hydrokinetic power projects. According to Trey Taylor, president of Verdant Power, the two firms have identified potential sites and are currently gathering data at those locations. The Generation-5 turbines they plan to use in China, says Taylor, “will be demonstrated at pilot project sites in North America as early as spring 2011.” Verdant currently is developing tidal power projects in both the U.S. and Canada. Its Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project in New York City’s East River, for instance, will generate up to 500 MW of electricity from a field of underwater turbines.