The Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Co. has secured a $5.4 million federal grant to finish development of its system that in 2012 became the first tidal generator to deliver electricity to the grid in the western hemisphere.
The U.S. Department of Energy awarded the grant Tuesday to the project first tested and monitored in Cobscook Bay, near Eastport, according to U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree.
Pingree said in a statement the award puts Ocean Renewable Power “a big step closer” to completing the next-generation design of the company’s tidal generation unit. The next-generation design includes a “buoyancy wing” that will help it stay at optimum depths for the current.
Pingree’s office said the grant requires the company to find a matching amount of private money.
The company also is pursuing a project at a site called the Western Passage, near Eastport, where it received a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in July, allowing it to study installing a project at that site.