Power Company Proposes Wiscasset Tidal Project

 

Tidal power company representatives spoke to Wiscasset selectmen Tuesday about a proposed research pilot for potential future green electric generation on the Sheepscot/Back River.

 

Natural Currents New England of New Bedford, Mass., has applied for a three-year preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) but has not yet obtained one, according to founder and president Roger Bason.

 

Asked how long the company would be around, he said, “We could be here possibly 40-50 years. It will provide a lot of jobs and a lot of clean power.” The circular turbines themselves last about 20 years, according to Bason.

 

Bason touts the project as green and fish-friendly, and pollution-free, since it makes no use of fossil fuel.

 

“We have been proactive in protecting the environment,” he said. “If it doesn’t meet environmental standards, we’re not interested in participating in it.”

 

Meanwhile the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset has a competing application that it has filed on behalf of the town to give some local control for such a tidal power project, including a say about what company ends up doing it, whether Natural Currents or some other entity.

 

Regarding applications, the law favors a community’s preference, over an applicant’s.

 

Following the session, Peter Arnold, Chewonki’s sustainability coordinator, said there are other companies out there, including Ocean Renewable Power Co. (ORPC) based in Eastport that interests him.

 

Arnold said the company went to Eastport at the outset to work with the community, unlike Natural Currents, which has just come to the town now several weeks after the news of its area interest.

 

ORPC has obtained preliminary permits from FERC for two tidal sites, one on Western Passage and another on Cobscook Bay besides one tidal site in Alaska and six ocean sites in the currents off Florida‘s coast.

 

Arnold said with the permit filed by Chewonki, any company, including Natural Currents could come into the area, and the community would have little say about it, save public hearings.

 

Funding for its application for the three-year preliminary permit to determine the commercial viability of such a project will come from private donors interested in exploring such an energy source.

 

During his presentation, Bason said his company has projects planned in Alaska and in several other parts of the United States and happened to consider Wiscasset as a potential site at the advice of a lawyer friend who lives in the area. He said he wants to work with the town on the proposal.

 

The pilot project that Natural Current proposes initially would produce 20-25 kilowatts of electricity, enough power for 10 homes, and would be a prototype for an expanded operation if it passed environmental muster during the three-year trial period.

 

The technology for electricity production through its particular system involves three key elements. One consists of the water speed, Bason said. “You want to get fast water,” he said.

 

Bason listed water directional flow as the second key element in the mix for a viable location and the ability to meet navigational limits. He said the turbines could be located on the bottom, hitched to pylons or raised from a pier, in which case they would be closer to the surface.

 

The question the company has to answer for itself concerns determining the right location for the project; where on the Sheepscot River, at narrows on the Back River, or closer to the bridge?

 

Asked how the company would maintain the turbines, Bason said the use of a dock with cranes to lift the turbines for periodic inspection and cleaning would be done.

 

The applied-for permit is only for one year. Bason said it would need a longterm agreement in order to have competitive prices in the energy market.

 

Schools Supt. Jay McIntire said he serves on the board for the Bath Regional Vocational School, which needs connection with such industries.

 

“I think it would be useful for students in Wiscasset to have some potential job site,” he said.

 

Bason said, “I think it’s a natural connection.”

 

Recently another type of electric power technology has been proposed for Wiscasset by Riverbank Power Corp. of Toronto consisting of a $2 billion power plant on the Back River, which would not interfere with a tidal power proposal like Natural Currents’ project. Both could be operating on the river.

Other business

In other business, selectmen unanimously approved a request from Susan Poppish, Wiscasset High School principal for $7000 from the town’s Mary Bailey Endowment Fund.

 

Poppish said the amount would be used for a prep course for the SAT‘s that all juniors must take, which the state uses to measure whether schools are making AYP (average yearly progress) status under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Also, many colleges still base admissions decisions in part on the outcome of the SAT‘s.

 

Part of the $7000 ($5000) will be used for a special program for seniors to take a course at a community technical college to encourage students to go onto post high school studies for future employment.

 

The balance in the fund is $205,000. 

   

Chairman David Nichols, Jr. announced the county commissioners earlier in the day denied an abatement appeal to Bill Phinney. They said Phinney failed to show up at the hearing scheduled Tuesday at 1 p.m., and County Administrator Jim McMahon said earlier Phinney did not notify the county board so the board upheld the town’s decision on his property.

Hearings

The board voted to hold a public hearing on the town’s Nov. 4 ballot questions Thurs., Oct. 16 at 6 p.m. in the middle school cafeteria.

 

A public informational hearing will be held Sat., Oct. 25 at 9 a.m. in the middle school gym on the school consolidation plan also on the Nov. 4 ballot.