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7.08.08
Mass Islanders Push Tidal Energy
Martha's Vineyard residents mobilize to create a tidal energy
project between the islands.
An artist's rendering of a tidal-energy
generator proposed for Massachusetts' Muskeget Channel. (TRC
Environmental Corp.)
Local Massachusetts'
islanders are spearheading their own plan to harness tidal energy from a
channel between Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, according to a recent
article in the
Cape Cod Times.
After a large energy
company based in New York submitted plans for permitting tidal projects
in the area, local officials and private citizens organized their own
tidal energy plan. Now their application to develop a new tidal energy
platform in Muskeget Channel between Chappaquiddick and Nantucket has
been accepted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The way the proposed
tidal energy project would work is turbines spun by the ebbing and
surging ocean tides would generate electricity. According to the permit,
the proposed project calls for 50 ocean-current, turbine-generation
units, with a 3-mile-long transition line that would carry the
electricity to land. The average power could be enough energy to power
1,500 homes a day.
The project is still
in a preliminary stage, and tests and analysis of the tides and
potential impact on local fisheries and boating still need to be
completed. |
