3 utilities get OK to use tidal flows to generate power
PORTLAND, Maine - Maine regulators put three utilities on the path
to distribute electricity harnessed from tides at the nation’s eastern
tip Tuesday, a key milestone in a bid to turn the natural rise and fall
of ocean levels into power.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission set terms for a contract that would be in place for 20 years.
The regulators also directed the three utilities to
negotiate with Ocean Renewable Power Co. to put electricity onto the
grid this summer, the first long-term power purchase agreements for
tidal energy in the United States.
“It’s
a landmark in the commercialization of tidal energy in the US,’’ said
Chris Sauer, president and chief executive of the Portland company.
Ocean Renewable intends to install its first underwater turbine unit this summer on Cobscook Bay under a demonstration project.
Power production will begin modestly, with a pilot program calling for production of 4 megawatts, enough to power up more than 1,000 homes by 2016.
Power production will begin modestly, with the first unit
producing enough electricity for 20 to 25 homes; the pilot program calls
for additional units at sites off both Lubec and Eastport to bring
production to 4 megawatts, enough to power up more than 1,000 homes by
2016.
All told, the company sees up to 50 megawatts of tidal
power potential off Lubec and
Eastport, home to one of the world’s best
tidal sites, where the tide rises and falls 20 feet twice a day.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission established what is
called a contract term sheet for the project. It sets the rate to be
paid for the tide-generated electricity at 21.5 cents per kilowatt hour,
a subsidized rate that is far higher than the current standard offer of
about 11 to 12 cents paid by most Maine residents.
Central Maine Power, Bangor Hydro Electric Co., and Maine
Public Service Co. will negotiate a contract with Ocean Renewable under
the framework established by regulators.
Richard Davies, Maine’s public advocate, said there were
some mixed emotions over setting a rate that is so much higher than the
current cost of electricity.
But Davies and his staff came down in support of the
project because the cost of energy produced by fossil fuels will likely
grow much faster than the cost of tidal energy over the course of the
20-year contract. In fact, he said, the energy could become competitive
within five years.
The 21.5-cent rate, which grows 2 percent a year over the
contract, makes the project feasible, Sauer said. It will be subsidized
through a previously established state fund.
Ocean Renewable’s Maine Tidal Energy Project is one of
two tidal programs to receive pilot project licenses earlier this year
from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The other company, Verdant Power, is working to advance its own tidal energy system in New York City’s East River.
Verdant’s design looks a lot like a wind turbine, only it
is underwater. Ocean Renewable uses rotating foils that lend the
appearance of a manual reel mower for cutting grass.
Officials in Canada are watching the Maine project with
interest. Ocean Renewable and Nova Scotia’s 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.
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