The Hyrdo News has reported that “Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) has submitted a preliminary permit application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the Rosario Strait Tidal Energy Project (P-15368)”. The application is proposing the project just east of Blakely Island.
The preliminary permit is looking to study and possibly implement a tidal turbine that could generate as much as 5.7 GWh of electricity, approx. 5% of the current capacity needs. “The proposed project would serve as a pilot project to test the capacity of Rosario Strait for tidal turbine technology that supports OPALCO’s microgrid. The Orbital O2 device proposed for use in this location is a floating tidal turbine with a 245-ft-long hull and twin rotors suspended underneath. The device is 165 ft wide including the span of the blades underwater. When operating, the Orbital O2 sits about 90 ft deep in the water column and floats about 5 ft above the waterline and 7.5 ft below the waterline.” – Hydro News
OPALCO was selected by the Department of Energy for Phase 1 grant funding to explore the development of a tidal generation project in San Juan County. The funding is to explore the feasibility of this pilot project. An upcoming workshop will go over the various aspects of this project including the technical and logistical considerations involved. This will be on August 27th via Zoom if you are interested to learn more and ask questions.
Here is the link to the upcoming public Zoom meeting: https://opalco.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0pdO-urD8pGtCqSdkfRoIz-P_Grbv7x6sp#/registration
Orca researchers have expressed concerns about putting a turbine in the location where endangered Orca’s routinely travel. At this point apparently none have been consulted.
These are the issues we face as we have to make very difficult choices away from the clear and present danger of the use of fossil fuels to the unclear choices of renewable resources from wind to tidal energy. We have no time left to make hard decisions that are going to become even more harder or draconian as the next few years bring larger wildfires and melting ice caps that soon will accelerate the loss of shorelines across the globe. According to virtually all global climate scientists we are passing the point of no return now taking us into a future that may bring the end to democracies like ours if not human civilization as we know it. As the election of Trump a few years ago and his near tie in the current election, as people grow concerned, they often throw complex solutions out of the window and turn to fascism or a ruler who promises that he is the “answer” to their concerns. We should not forget that this country, like Saudi Arabia is captured by our ever-growing need for more oil and gas, and our politicians find themselves having millions of dollars of campaign contributions by the oil and gas industry as they continue to do everything they can to stop a move to renewables (though they claim natural gas is also renewables and even the Democrats parrot this). This is not a time to move slowly! But across the U.S. we are seeing locals work to stop or slow renewable projects. We also see corporations and their allies in various oil and gas industry NGO’s use words like “so called Climate Crisis”. Are they not watching thousands of homes destroyed every year in California, Canada and Colorado, to name just a few of the more forest fire active locations as the planet warms and hits new record high temperatures every year?
I would ask the opponents of this project who are from the green side of this debate to bring forward a list of suitable sites to locate a project like this if they don’t like the existing site. In 2013 the Orca Conservancy brought out a petition to oppose the Admiralty inlet site, saying the site was “unsuitable” but they never proposed an alternative site. Since it seems every site proposed by either wind or tidal projects is “unsuitable” it’s up to the green alliance to tell the corporations where they would like to see these sited so we can move more quickly. As an environmental activist I am frankly very frustrated with opposition without clarity of alternatives. As stated above, there is no time to waste!
I hope that the project planning for this will bring aboard at least one Orca research scientist to represent what may be a show stopping concern for this project. A similar project off Whidbey Island some years ago also ended up in failure for some of the same reasons.
The full article in Hydro News is here.
Filed under: Alternative energy., Around the Salish Sea | Tagged: OPALCO, Rosario Strait, san juans, tidal energy |
NO, No turbine, no electrical producing machines. Our waters are too heavily used for commerce already, recreational boating by thousands of citizens, citizens and government agencies are attempting to encourage greater salmon and our orca are struggling to survive in their habitat where they lived prior to the humans taking the space over.
The pemit to bring in 5 x more oil ships into the Straight of Juan deFuca is bad enough and should never have been permitted. This will create more polution and no doubt some marine catastrophy in future as the heavy fall fog beginss it’s season end of August.
NO, again, no turbine. Leave Puget Sound and Rosario and Straights alone.
Always easy to say no not here, somewhere else. We need to try things like tidal turbines to see if they can possibly a workable part of a sustainable energy future. Solar and wind are great and we need to keep adding more and locally not just somewhere “I don’t have to look at them”. The San Juans have good winter winds and good summer sun so they can produce much of their own power. Lots of conservation to keep the needs minimal as well.