UMaine Researchers Receive $1 Million Grant To Continue Tidal Power Studies
Contact: Mick Peterson (207) 581-2129 or michael.peterson@maine.edu
ORONO – A group of University of Maine researchers, headed up by UMaine Libra Foundation Professor of Engineering Michael “Mick” Peterson, has received a $1 million grant from the Department of Energy to continue developing environmental impact protocols at the site of a tidal-power turbine near Eastport and two other sites in Maine.
The Maine Tidal Power Initiative, which is in its second year and has now been awarded a total of $4 million in government and non-government funds, includes research in the Western Passage of the Cobscook Bay, where Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Company has a working test turbine.
The Department of Energy grant also continues the educational component for undergraduate and graduate students, who have been involved since ORPC first began funding the initiative more than two years ago.
The research will use baseline resource and environmental data for the Western Passage site for evaluating and monitoring the development of tidal energy in those areas.
Among the information researchers are seeking is how much energy can be removed from tidal circulation in sites such as Cobscook Bay and the environmental impacts of the turbines on fish and other sea life.
Peterson says some of the most recent research data on fish in the area near the Cobscook Bay dates back as far as 1972.
“The ecosystem has changed dramatically when you start talking about how fisheries have changed,” he says.
The grant also provides funds for work on the modeling and testing of the open-source Maine Tidal Turbine in both the laboratory and the field, and the evaluation of the small-scale tidal energy site in the Bagaduce River, along with initial assessment of a site in the Sheepscot estuary near Wiscasset.
The new $1 million grant also provides funds to begin work-force development for upcoming renewable energy industries. The funds will allow students to continue developing skills in ocean engineering, mechanical engineering, or experiment design and hypothesis testing.
Other UMaine faculty who are leading tasks in the tidal power initiative include oceanography professor Huijie Xue, fish biologist Gayle Zydlewski of the School of Marine Sciences, and Teresa Johnston, assistant professor of marine policy in the School of Marine Sciences.
Maine Maritime Academy engineering professor Rich Kimball is the task leader for the engineering portion of the initiative.