PORTLAND, Maine — 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 anchored to the base, with 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.
Like General Bullmoose says,” Progress is the root of all evil, bring back the good old days.” No doubt another Federal plot for “real” Mainers to sink their teeth into.
Egotistical buffoon!
At least tidal power has some predictability to it. Note there are tide tables, but no wind tables.
Meanwhile NRCM’s entire reason for wanting to put industrial wind turbines up everywhere in Maine, CO2, turns out to be a total farce — based on their very own numbers:
http://www.windtaskforce.org/page/nrcm-s-co2-analysis
Five units to power 100 home’s. Seem’s a little pricey to me.
It is very pricey not only the cost of the turbines but the cost of all the jobs lost due to the impact of commerical fishing hundreds of people forced out of work way to go
60 acres = 0.9375 SQ MILES not quite a square mile…. where do you get 100’s of jobs lost again? if anything they will be adding jobs, they also need service and support people.. in boaters terms if your a boater your looking at a area roughly twice the size of the lockout area of walkers point in Kennebunk that NO-ONE is allowed into. nobody howled about that either. you just cant put stuff on the bottom or fish over the turbines.
Ill bet you dont commerical fish for a living in a small bay where over half is closed and several salmon farms some people do want to work but are being forced out but big business we dont stand a chance just one more blow to a struggling industry
we need to fix your fuel prices first.. diesel is 4.35 a gallon. you cant sustain your living on that cost of fuel. and it will only go up. These turbines are a step in reducing that cost. not a solution but a step. they are crafted and assembled locally and have local support. I doubt where these things are going that anyone is going to want to fish , lobster traps look like tumble weeds in that current. i wish I had some answers for you.It’s 500 bucks to fill my tank to go out,it has kept it on the trailer and that’s recreational. I cant imagine with the low dock prices and high fuel prices how anyone can carve a living out. hats off to ya. look out for the ole sow.. she snores..
Check your math because I think it’s more like under a tenth of a square mile (640 acres). You let the decimal point slip.
.0015625 sq miles or 1 acre times 60 acres is what the story reports for the permit size =.09375 that was my math, we both slipped , lol those turbines aren’t THAT big!! 640 acres is a small lake!!!
heh, heh, heh…..decimal points are somewhat cumbersome….but I’ m happy that you got it right.
Sometimes they slip one way or another. It’s the banana peel theorem.
Pricey? Have you noticed the price of the alternative lately? I would much rather spend money here, than to let it go to some towel head.
Ten million so far and nothing to show except maybes. Tidal power is in use all over the world, but these guys are trying to re-invent the wheel. At least Kevin Raye’s family is making big bucks off it.
go ORPC! This pilot will show whats possible for predictable renewable power. show those wind ninnies how to do it and do it right!
the nimby crew will have a fit if a whale gets chopped to bits in them things
I take it they’re not using romex from home depot to bring that power ashore.
So somebody thinks it is a good idea to make more expencive in Maine? The greens ripped out our nuke plant then tore out all the dams ( that made many small towns independant ). Then we build huge gastly unproductive windmills that make people ill and kill birds. Now we are going to put big VERY VERY expencive machines underwater to produce small amounts of very expencive power while pissing off all the local fisherman. Welcome to maine….
Those local fishermen, who use diesel to fuel their boats. Those local fishermen, who are quite particular about whose fishing grounds are whose, and those local fishermen who also desire a cheaper electric bill at home? Welcome to Maine, a place where we use what god has given to us and use mother nature’s power to provide for us. We must start looking for other means of an energy source, we cannot continue to depend upon towel heads for what the world needs. And that’s energy, America should be leading this search, not cowering to the middle east.
The middle east has nothing to do with nuclear power.
I agree. This is NOT cheaper power!!! Given that FACT why are we doing it? Maine could build or two Nuclear power plants and supply the whole state. CHEAPER then the power we have now. All those who get all wholly on this how many of you are OFF the grid? I have a generator and a windmill I am on the grid though. The ONLY and I do mean ONLY reason this is being built is WELFARE our tax dollars. No company would even try this on there own dollar.
never wanted a nuke plant here myself, but didn’t like the removal of the hydro dam’s hydro was good for Maine IMO.
More magic from taxpayers dollars… 100% crapola.. now you see 21 millon now you don’t.. it only cost 3 millon to build and install.. magic numbers and fingers….
Wind power lobbist are trying to get a law passed in Maine that we have to buy 20 percent of our power from these people at 50 fold the cost of other power.. That is the only way they can make money is if they use the government to force us to buy their power at 50X times the cost of what we pay now… Watch out for all these people folks. If they get their way the electric rates will make oil look cheap.. Time to stop them now!!! call your reps and get rid of the PUC untouchables..
wind solar and tidal is the way to go,I think we should get our hydro dams back to.I also think the Maine people should be getting more out of it then they are currently.
Whadda’ ‘ya tink dare sonny?, me don’t know much ’bout this stuff here, but me mom and pop used say, watta ‘n lectricity don’t go ‘gether
I just hope they have more credibility than that Eastport city council, they ain’t got none……..
The City Council loves to spend taxpayers money on their buddies.
This is just another one of those Solyndra things. Nothing but federal and state money. At least all of these guys have had a good time feasting on the public teat. We should have taken the 10 million these guys have already burned through and bought lottery tickets. Is there one single employee from Eastport? They all seem to come from Perry or Portland, they’re just getting free use of the old A&P.
21 million dollars for enough power for 20-25 homes. Obamanonics in action.
$21M to power 20 to 25 homes? Must be misprint, right?
Awesome, about time.
The numbers reveal an expensive source of energy which will limit traditional uses of Cobscook Bay. Twenty one million dollars to supply electricity for 100 homes equates to around $210,000 per home for electricity which will be available for less than 50% of time. If you were building a house for $200,000 would you pay $210,000 for an energy system without the ability to provide electricity upon demand? Under the ORPC model, consumers still have to pay close to twenty cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity. For 300 kw capacity, ORPC requires 60 acres of ocean access. ORPC states that the ultimate goal is 50,000 kw which translates into approximately 10,000 acres in prime, high velocity territory. Taxpayers have already invested nearly $15,000,000 in the project for a few full-time jobs and many part-time jobs. If the project cost “only” $15,000,000, the cost of electricity is more than one dollar per kilowatt-hour as compared to present residential rates of less than twenty cents per kilowatt-hour. Taxpayers should expect free electricity from ORPC for untested technology in a harsh and shared environment. Finally, ORPC states that they would maintain the units by releasing semi-buoyant turbines to the surface; however, how would they bring them back down into their rickety frames?