Cobscook Bay might become tidal R&D site

Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) has submitted a response to request for information (RFI) to the U.S. Department of Energy proposing Cobscook Bay, Maine, as a test site for marine hydrokinetic research and development.

The proposal was submitted by ORPC, along with a consortium of tidal developers, including the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC).

Christopher Sauer, ORPC’s CEO, said at the Eastport City Council meeting that the Cobscook Bay has already hosted tidal energy research and has been well studied, with existing grid connection infrastructure.

U.S. Energy Department (DoE) has issued request for information seeking feedback from the marine and hydrokinetic (MHK) industry, academia, research laboratories, and government agencies, in order to advance the MHK energy industry. U.S. DoE is interested in receiving feedback on 5 key areas, including testing infrastructure and instrumentation.

If DoE is interested in the proposal, it will issue a funding request announcement together with the request for a more detailed proposal.

ORPC has installed its proprietary TidGen tidal energy device at the Cobscook Bay project site in 2012, and the electricity produced from that site has been fed to the U.S. power grid.

ORPC is a U.S. based tidal energy developer, that is working on advancing commercial development of their proprietary power systems which all use patented core device, the turbine generator unit (TGU) to produce electricity.

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Image: ORPC