Ocean Renewable Power Company To Install Maine Tidal Energy System

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — With its federal license in hand, a Maine-based tidal energy company is ready to install its underwater power system for the first time on the floor of the ocean.

Ocean Renewable Power Co. aims to begin installation of its first grid-connected power unit in mid-March at a 60-acre site in Cobscook Bay at the nation's easternmost tip.

The first unit capable of powering 20 to 25 homes will be hooked up to the grid this summer, and four more units will be installed next year at a total cost of $21 million for the project, said Chris Sauer, president and chief executive officer of the Portland-based company.

Eventually, Ocean Renewable hopes to install more units to bring its electrical output to 4 megawatts at sites off both Lubec and Eastport. Ocean Renewable holds permits for three sites in the area, one of the world's best tidal sites, where twice a day the tide rises and falls 20 feet.

All told, the company sees up to 50 megawatts of tidal power potential in the Eastport and Lubec areas, enough to power thousands of homes, Sauer said.

"It's never going to be the dominant power-generating resource in the state of the Maine, but it's going to be a significant contributor," he said.

The Ocean Renewable turbine generator unit self-starts when the tidal current reaches about 2 knots, and is designed to produce up to 180 kilowatts under ideal circumstances. On average, however, it'll produce 60 kilowatts at the installation site in Cobscook Bay near Seward Neck in Lubec, Sauer said.

Once it's completed, the full array of five of those turbine generator units will produce about 300 kilowatts under the pilot project license issued last week by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The completed pilot project will produce enough electricity for about 100 homes.

A month earlier, FERC issued the first such license to Verdant Power, which hopes to produce tidal energy from New York City's East River. Verdant's tidal power design looks a lot like a wind turbine, only it's underwater. Ocean Renewable uses rotating foils that lend the appearance of a manual reel mower for cutting grass.

Ocean Renewable starts work later this month with underwater installation of a heavy steel base, which will be about 100 feet down on the ocean floor. A turbine generator unit will be attached to the base, with at least 60 feet of clearance between the device and the ocean surface at the low tide.

Previously, the company's prototype was tested in the waters off Lubec and Eastport, but it was mounted on a barge and lowered underwater for testing.

The Coast Guard will set rules to ensure fishing and recreational boat can safely operate despite the presence a barge, platforms with cranes and boats with divers. The general contractor is Perry Marine & Construction.

Officials in Canada are watching the Maine project with interest. By 2014, Ocean Renewable and Nova Scotia-based Fundy Tidal Inc. hope to install the same units in waters off Nova Scotia, where Bay of Fundy offers even greater tidal power potential, officials have said.

Comments

[rodjard]

11:21 PM on 03/06/2012

Is their a simple water stream powered generator
on the market and if not, why not?

[rodjard]

11:12 PM on 03/06/2012

A lot of ideas go untried for fear of failure.

Dad used to say
"Don't tell me what you're going to do
and expect accolades in advance.".
Come back and tell me what you did."

I think a boat can travel upstream using power
generated with props under the water.
Even if you have to sit still for a while, charge,
and then move up some more. Why not?

[rodjard]

10:55 PM on 03/06/2012

A real simple notion is floating stream mills.
Every town on a river bank ought to benefit from them.
The St Lawrence Seaway runs clear and clean 24
hours a day and does not rise or lower but very little.

I don't see surface ice being a problem with water that deep.
I am at a loss to understand why this hasn't been done.

[mdinoregon]

08:25 PM on 03/05/2012

It's a start, get the ball rolling.
Wanna' see the turbine generator unit?
http://www.orpc.co/orpcpowersystem_turbinegeneratorunit.aspx

Looks interesting....

[Esteman]

05:27 PM on 03/05/2012

So, by what standard is it 'cheap' to burn coal?
We would have thought anyone absurd 25 or 30 years ago if they had suggested that in the
future we would buy water in plastic bottles.
What's next, bottled air?
We must get moving on renewable energy. Let's put our personal politics aside.
How much money in subsidies have big oil and gas soaked up in the past 100 years?
That was really expensive, and we all paid for it with our taxes and still are.
On top of that, they thank us by contaminating our water, air, soil, and dragging us into meaningless wars so they can raid the US treasury as war profiteers.
No amount of money can buy back Pitcher, Oklahoma. Check out a list of superfund sites in the United States and THEN you can complain about money wasted. But the companies that
fouled Pitcher and countless other places all across our country have long since cashed in and passed the buck to us.

[eyelashviper]

02:04 PM on 03/05/2012

Clam farts should be harnessed....that wafting odor on clam flats at low tide could be put to good use.

[4everright1]

01:47 PM on 03/05/2012

power for 25 homes for $21 Million...that's pretty cheap by Obama standards.

[bbrecht]

07:26 PM on 03/05/2012

Much cheaper than a day of war in Afghanistan or Iraq.

[Nick Hatch]

09:35 PM on 03/05/2012

Not as cheap as nuclear. Heck offshore wind power would be a better and equally reliable bet - doesn't a single wind turbine produce 3x as much power as this whole array?
I know, it's proof of concept. I don't see how submerging expensive electricity generating equipment 100ft into the ocean to produce a trickle of power is worth the cost or especially the risk. I bet maintenance for something like this is just a piece of cake; especially if something goes seriously wrong.

[maslin]

01:20 PM on 03/05/2012

Cool.

I think the sites are going to be limited for this type of thing, but we are going to need all of them.

[judgejay]

12:54 PM on 03/05/2012

21 million to power up to perhaps 100 homes. Is that all only 21 million? Should be interesting to see how this holds up in an ocean enviroment. Couldn't be worse than the investments in solar companies that go belly up in a year or two.

[grappler1987]

12:28 PM on 03/05/2012

Cool. Hope it works. $21M for under 30 homes seems expensive though.