FERC approves plans for new 300-KW ocean power plant FERC approves plans for new 300-KW ocean power plant | Renewable Energy News Article EASTPORT, Maine -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved plans for a 300-KW tidal energy project near Maine's Cobscook Bay, according to members of the state's congressional delegation. The permit will allow Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Company to install turbine generator units on the ocean floor and operate the project for eight years. The company says it has been engineering and field-testing its turbines in waters off Eastport since 2004 and now wants to install five turbines within a 61-acre area between Goose Island and Grove Point. Each of the units is 98-feet wide and 31-feet tall. Ocean Renewable Power says it could begin construction of the plant as early as March 2012, adding to the list of wave power plants recently approved by FERC. A 1.05-MW project in New York's East River was approved in January 2012. ---- So all forms of energy are going to be used now! FERC licenses first tidal pilot project, 1.05-MW Roosevelt Island The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued its first hydrokinetic pilot project license for a tidal project, the 1.05-MW Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy project, on the East River in New York, N.Y. Marine hydropower developer Verdant Power filed an application with FERC in December 2010 for the RITE project, seeking permission to install up to 30 tidal turbine-generators on the river bottom off Roosevelt Island. From 2006 to 2008, Verdant demonstrated a Free Flow System including six full-scale turbines, delivering energy to businesses in New York City. FERC developed the pilot license process in 2008 to allow developers to test new hydrokinetic technologies, determine appropriate sites, and confirm the' environmental effects without compromising FERC oversight. Pilot licenses must be small; short-term; in an environmentally non-sensitive area; removable and able to shut down on short notice; and removed, with the site restored, before the license expires, unless a new license is issued. FERC issued a 10-year pilot license January 23, authorizing Verdant to conduct a three-phase development: Phase 1: three 35-kW, 5-meter-diameter axial-flow Kinetic Hydropower System turbines mounted on a single tri-frame in year 1; Phase 2: nine additional 35-kW units mounted on three tri-frames in year 3; and Phase 3: 18 additional 35-kW units mounted on six tri-frames in year 5. The project also includes 480-volt underwater cables from each turbine to shoreline switchgear vaults that interconnect with a control room and interconnection points. It also includes facilities for navigation safety and operation. Once Phase 3 is completed, the RITE project is to have annual generation of 2.4 GWh utilizing tidal flows of the East River, actually a 17-mile tidal strait connecting Long Island Sound with the Atlantic Ocean in New York Harbor. The units yaw with the flow, enabling them to generate during both ebb and flow cycles. http://www.hydroworld.com/index/art...departments/breaking-news-hydro-currents.html
As long as it can work economically, I'm for it. Economically, because I care about the people trying to pay their electric bills each month as much as you care about polluting. My prosition has soften on this as I find that wind has been at least somewhat successeful. BP has gotten into it, which tells you that it makes some economical sense! Not sure yet about wave power, but we will see!
Wave needs a lot of development, as does slow current. Geothermal also in the development stage. What all need is a national distributive grid, one that can pick up a 2 gw nuclear plant, or a 2 kw homeowners solar installation. Southeastern Oregon and Neveda have vast amounts of geothermal, wind, and solar potential, but there is no grid there at present. Same goes for the wind potential in Eastern Montana and Wyoming. Oregon Technical Institute in Klamath Falls is doing some interesting things in Geothermal. Quite well ahead of the curve for a small school.
Tidal flow powered generators might work or they might cost more than they gain in electricity in the next 50 years.
Our aging power grid... You Don't Need a Cyber Attack to Take Down The North American Power Grid Friday, 09 March 2012 - The Obama administration simulated a cyber attack on New York City's power supply in a Senate demonstration aimed at winning support for legislation to boost the nation's computer defenses. Senators from both parties gathered behind closed doors in the Capitol Wednesday for the classified briefing attended by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, FBI Director Robert Mueller and other administration officials. The mock attack on the city during a summer heat wave was "very compelling," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who is co-sponsoring a cybersecurity bill supported by President Barack Obama. "It illustrated the problem and why legislation is desperately needed," she said as she left the briefing. Bloomberg.
The energy 'wave' of the future... DOE Looking to Harness Energy From Ocean Waves Off Hawaii May 18, 2012 - Call it the "wave" of the future -- the far-away, fossil-fuel-free future, that is.
