Description
The proposed Western Passage Tidal Energy Project (Project) would include an array of hydrokinetic tidal energy devices with a total capacity of up to 5-megawatts (MW) in Western Passage, Maine. Western Passage is a narrow passage in the northern Atlantic Ocean, northeast of the City of Eastport, in Washington County, Maine, and bounded by the border between the United States (U.S.) and Canada. Western Passage is the western conduit for waters flowing from the St. Croix River and Passamaquoddy Bay and into Friar Roads Bay.
ORPC plans to develop the Western Passage Project in phases to manage and retire risks and to collect operational and environmental data important for ensuring long-term project success. ORPC plans to initially test a single tidal energy device, the TidGen® Power System (TidGen), at Western Passage. ORPC’s TidGen is being developed with funding provided in part by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office as part of their strategic investments in domestic renewable energy solutions. Following the successful demonstration of a single device, ORPC plans to install additional TidGen devices to create a power system array. A single TidGen is characterized for 80 kilowatts (kW) of output at 2.25 meters per second (m/s) of velocity, with a peak output of 160 kW at 3.5 m/s of velocity. The approximate dimensions of a TidGen device are 17.8 meters wide (58 feet) by 6 meters high (20 feet). In subsequent years of the Project, ORPC plans to replace the initial TidGen devices with larger MW-scale devices currently under development. The larger devices will also be tested in phases at Western Passage– first a single device, then an array. ORPC estimates that three to five of the larger MW-scale devices would bring the total capacity of the Project up to 5-MW. The estimated dimensions of the MW-scale devices would likely be 37.2 meters (122 feet) in width and 21.7 meters (71.2 feet) in height. Both the TidGen and larger MW-scale devices are planned to be tethered to subsea rock anchor systems.
ORPC and the City of Eastport have been economic development partners since 2006, when the parties executed An Economic Development Partnership Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). In September 2019, ORPC and the City of Eastport revised, updated, and re-signed the MOU to document the parties’ joint interest in pursuing a local microgrid and battery energy storage project that would be supplied with baseload power provided from ORPC’s Western Passage Tidal Energy Project. The City of Eastport worked on a local energy planning effort that was assisted by the DOE’s Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP). ETIPP provided Eastport with technical expertise from the National Renewable Energy Lab and the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, as well as from local partners including ORPC, Versant Power (regional utility), and the Island Institute. The Eastport ETIPP team has progressed the planning of a local microgrid that would have tidal energy as baseload and help strengthen grid reliability and resiliency in Eastport.
Location
This Project would be located in Western Passage. Western Passage is a marine waterway located in the northern Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Eastport, Maine, United States.
Licensing Information
On February 3, 2023, FERC approved of a third ORPC Preliminary Permit for the Western Passage site. This is a three-year Preliminary Permit valid from February 1, 2023 – February 1, 2026. Over the course of the Preliminary Permit period, ORPC will continue to conduct site characterization studies, work on pre-deployment environmental studies, and refine engineering designs in preparation for filing a license application with the FERC.
Project Progress
ORPC will continue to work on pre-deployment site characterization and environmental studies, over the next couple years. ORPC presently has a FERC Preliminary Permit that allows ORPC priority to study the site for development.
Key Environmental Issues
ORPC’s environmentally responsible and scientifically based approach to the Western Passage Project’s pre-deployment study plans builds on lessons learned from the nearby Cobscook Bay Tidal Energy Project (P-12711) (FERC license ended on January 31, 2022). The adaptive management approach that was successfully implemented at the Cobscook Bay site is key to ORPC’s planned approach for the Western Passage Project to maintain levels of environmental monitoring that are appropriate for project risk. Key components of ORPC’s approach to pre-deployment studies include the following:
- Building upon the methods, technology, and knowledge gained from the nearby Cobscook Bay Tidal Energy Project.
- Drawing upon published environmental data from marine hydrokinetic projects installed elsewhere in the world as “best available science.”
- Continued collaboration with state and federal resource agencies to evaluate and modify environmental monitoring through an adaptive management process.
Threatened or endangered species that may occur within the Western Passage project area include the following species outlined in Table 1.
Table 1. Federal and/or state listed threatened (T) and endangered (E) species with potential to occur in project area.
Species |
Scientific Name |
Federal Status |
State Status |
Atlantic Sturgeon (Gulf of Maine DPS) |
Acipenser oxyrinchus |
T |
N/A |
Atlantic Sturgeon (New York Bight, Chesapeake Bay, Carolina, and South Atlantic DPS) |
Acipenser oxyrinchus |
E |
N/A |
Shortnose Sturgeon |
Acipenser brevirostrum |
E |
E |
Atlantic Salmon (Gulf of Maine DPS) |
Salmo salar |
E |
N/A |
Green Sea Turtle (N Atlantic DPS) |
Chelonia myudas |
T |
N/A |
Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle |
Lepidochelys kempii |
E |
E |
Leatherback Sea Turtle |
Dermochelys coriacea |
E |
E |
Loggerhead Sea Turtle (NW Atlantic DPS) |
Caretta caretta |
T |
T |
Sei Whale |
Balaenoptera borealis |
E |
E |
Fin Whale |
Balaenoptera physalus |
E |
E |
North Atlantic Right Whale |
Eubalaena glacialis |
E |
E |
Humpback Whale |
Megaptera novaeangliae |
E |
E |
Northern Long-eared Bat |
Myotis septentrionalis |
T |
E |
Roseate Tern |
Sterna dougallii dougallii |
E |
E |
Prior field studies conducted under ORPC’s previous FERC Preliminary Permits for the Western Passage project include:
- Bathymetry
- Marine Geophysical
- Tidal Current Surveys
- Focused Benthic Community Surveys
- Observations on Marine Mammals and Bald Eagles
- Preliminary Underwater Noise Survey
- Terrestrial Site Assessments
More recently, ORPC, in collaboration with the University of Maine (UMaine), conducted an in-depth analysis of marine mammal presence at the proposed Western Passage Project site. From 2017-2019 UMaine utilized systemic visual and passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) to conduct marine mammal surveys in the waters of Western Passage, with particular focus on the site identified as the area of interest (AOI) for proposed installation of ORPC devices.
ORPC also recently conducted a drop camera survey in the proposed Western Passage Project area in April 2022. This survey recorded seabed conditions for the purposes of identifying suitable sites for installation of subsea rock anchors. Two sites were identified as preferred areas for rock anchor installation. ORPC will further investigate conditions at these sites to determine a final development site.
Environmental Webpage: https://orpc.co/environmental-monitoring/
Papers, Reports, Research Studies
Baseline Assessment: Western Passage Tidal Energy Project
Receptor | Study Description | Design and Methods | Results | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fish, Marine Mammals | Evaluated the simultaneous use of two different acoustic sensors to detect the presence and interaction of large marine animals. | Combined a single beam echosounder and an acoustic camera mounted to cover the same area of the water column, to detect and identify animals present. | The study showed success in detecting animals (to the order of cetaceans) and give preliminary information about their behavior. Viable method for monitoring single device-specific area. | Completed |
Physical Environment | Tidal resource characterization and predicting effects of energy extraction. | Used FVCOM hydrodynamic model fed with available real-time and historic data, to establish baseline characteristics and simulate effects of energy extraction. | Predicted different tidal conditions resulting from energy extraction. | Completed |
Marine Mammals | Marine mammal presence and interactions. | Land based systemic visual and passive acoustic monitoring. Assessment of all present marine mammal species. | Strong seasonality of many marine mammal species in the area, with harbor porpoise and minke whale having the highest total numbers. | Completed |
Physical Environment | Drop camera survey | Camera recording of seabed conditions to identify suitable sites for subsea rock anchors. | Not yet available. | Completed |
Marine Mammals | Marine mammal presence and interactions. | Land based visual observations; evaluating passive acoustic monitoring (PAM). | Visual observations recorded the presence of harbor seals and harbor porpoises. | Completed |
Fish | Fisheries presence and turbine interactions. | Hydroacoustic and trawl surveys of project and control sites; acoustic tag detection, turbine interaction data from Cobscook Bay Tidal Energy Project. | Hydroacoustic and trawl surveys combined to detail fisheries presence (seasonality, vertical distribution, diurnal patterns, etc.) and speciation. Interaction studies demonstrated fish behavior for the nearby Cobscook Bay Tidal Energy Project. | Completed |
Birds | Bird species presence and behavior. | Land based visual observations. | Species presence, behavior, and seasonality documented. | Completed |
Invertebrates | Invertebrate species presence. | Benthic dive survey of deployment area and cable route. | Species presence and distribution documented. Sediment type also documented. | Completed |
Ecosystem Processes | Marine geophysical survey. | Detailed bathymetric mapping, side-scan sonar, sub-bottom profiling and magnetometer surveys. Data used to characterize the bottom and identify potential cultural resources and marine hazards. | Results of geophysical survey contributed to the siting of turbine devices and foundational considerations. | Completed |
Physical Environment | Water velocity surveys. | Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) surveys. Hydraulic circulation modeling. | ADCP surveys and hydraulic modeling contributed to the selection of turbine deployment locations. | Completed |
Physical Environment | Underwater acoustic survey. | Drifting Noise Measurement System (DNMS) at project site. | Ambient acoustic levels measured. | Completed |