Ocean Renewable Power Co., a Maine company is the first developer of tidal energy to get a commercial project on the grid in North America.
According to The Chronicle Herald, the company’s turbine in Maine’s Cobscook Bay started producing electricity last week, however it will not officially start production for another few weeks.
John Ferland, Ocean Renewable’s project development vice-president said: “We’re up and running and working through these early stages of a new project being operational for the first time”.
Ocean Renewable has a strategic partnership with Fundy Tidal Inc. of Westport, which said that the Maine project should give a good indication how their machines will fare in southwestern Nova Scotia.
Ocean Renewable’s TidGen system includes a turbine generator unit that is nine metres off the sea floor and attached to a support frame.
The base was deployed in April while the turbine was installed in early August.
A 1.2-kilometre underwater cable connects the project to the Bangor Hydro Electric Co. system at Lubec.
Ocean Renewable plans to install two more devices in Cobscook Bay site next year and the cost fo thsi project is expected to be $21 million. Each machine will produce enough power to supply 25 homes with electricity.
The other turbines will be placed in Passamaquoddy Bay starting in 2014.
Ocean Renewable plans to have 15 to 20 devices in place by the end of 2016.
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Subsea World News Staff , September 12, 2012