If all goes well, an entire underwater wind farm of 200 to 300 sleek 15-feet-tall turbines will discreetly spin under the surface of the river by 2006, providing about 10 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 8,000 homes.

"That will make New York City one of the greenest cities in the world when it comes to locally produced clean energy," said Trey Taylor, the owner of Verdant Power, a company in Virginia that has been given permits by the city to build the submerged turbines.