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Electricity generated from tides

Underwater turbines tested in Maine

By Jerry Harkavy ASSOCIATED PRESS | Tuesday, September 9, 2008

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Workers spent the past winter tinkering with high-tech turbines slung beneath a barge in the cold waters off the Maine coast before getting them to produce a modest 20 kilowatts, enough electricity to power six homes.

Far from discouraged, Ocean Renewable Power Co. LLC spent the summer preparing to deploy larger turbines capable of producing up to 5 megawatts - enough electricity to power 5,000 houses.

The company envisions eventually producing enough electricity to power 22,000 homes by harnessing the power of Passamaquoddy Bay, where the tide rises and falls upward of 20 feet twice each day, the greatest tide change in the continental United States.

"This is our beachhead opportunity to enter the market," said project manager John Ferland.

Even before energy prices surged, a study conducted by the electric utility industry concluded that tidal power could be produced at a cost competitive with wind power and power plants fired by natural gas.

Companies raced to file permits with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but Ocean Renewable Power has moved a step forward by using its turbine generating unit to produce power. It is one of dozens of developers positioning for a lead role in tidal-power technology.

"Basically, the technology is here. It's just a matter of engineering it for the lowest cost, the highest reliability and the longest survivability in a hostile and corrosive environment," said Roger Bedard, who led the study for the Electric Power Research Institute Inc. in Palo Alto, Calif.

The experiment taking place in the 120-foot-deep Western Passage between Eastport and New Brunswick, Canada, represents the latest advance in an emerging technology that seems to be moving forward in baby steps but one day could help meet the growing worldwide demand for electricity.

Ocean Renewable Power was the only developer with turbines in U.S. waters that generated electricity this year, Mr. Bedard said. He said tests also are being run elsewhere, including the British Isles, Canada and Italy.