WI: Passamaquoddy Tidal Project built in Maine/Early Tidal Power

[Arkenfolm]

In the 1920s and 30s, the United States built numerous works of incredible engineering on the rivers in the country such as the dams of the TVA or the Columbia Basin. These dams enabled cheap power for millions of households and are still used to this day. Dam projects like the Hoover Dam enabled sizable cities to spring up from nothing such as Las Vegas. In that same era, engineers devised the idea of using the massive tides of the Bay of Fundy to generate power in Maine by using a tidal barrage. The project was boosted by future president FDR's ownership of a home in Passamaquoddy Bay. The original idea of the project would generate about 3 terawatt-hours a year of power, about 75% of the Hoover Dam which at the time was the largest power station in the world. Note that this is nearly 40 years before the Rance Tidal Power Station in France, the first modern tidal station (although that idea also started in the 20s).

Unfortunately, the project ran into challenges thanks to the Great Depression, public opposition from fishermen in Canada which caused it to be downscaled to a US-only project (slashing it to only about 1 terawatt-hour a year) and opposition from utilities elsewhere in Maine who believed the project would put them out of business. The initial phases of construction started with what little funds were available, but soon after issues with the government budget and need to please Southern Democrats killed the project from gaining additional funding and further construction was abandoned. Although later administrations including Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy considered the project, work never restarted. The electricity potential in that region was not tapped until several years ago when a small generating station using modern technology was installed in the area, operating alongside a few slightly larger (but still comparatively small) projects on the Canadian side of the Bay of Fundy.

So what if this project becomes reality? It uses a novel technology for incredible results, but that novelty might lead to a difficult beginning (although in essence it's a massively scaled up tide mill like the sort used in Maine for centuries). Say FDR and other politicians persuade Congress to back the project, and complete it with the help of a more sympathetic Canadian administration (who expressed interest before the Depression). This would presumably make Eastport, ME a much larger city and be a huge boost to industry in Maine and that entire region as a whole. I would assume there would be future expansions to the power stations there in the 50s and 60s, creating a large network of cross-border power generation (I'd assume something similar to the Columbia River Treaty negotiating who pays what and who gets what). I'm not certain of the total power capacity of the Bay of Fundy, but given the bay has the largest tides in the world, it's probably many, many terawatt-hours and would power a significant amount of New England and the Maritimes.

How great of an impact would this have in this region? These stations will provide a large amount of cheap energy, incentivising energy-intensive industries to locate there. Eastport, ME would of course be a much larger city than OTL and not decline, but what would the broader effect on New England and the Maritimes be?

What might the impact on tidal energy be? I'd assume the station would by the 1940s be revealed as highly effective and useful--would it spark a wave of tidal power construction in the US and globally (i.e. the Severn Barrage in England) based on this now-proven technology? I would assume this would cause less building of nuclear power plants (i.e. the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts or those along the Severn in England) in many areas, since the technology appears to be cheaper per kWh than nuclear energy. Does it result in much more renewable energy earlier, and more investigation into other forms of ocean energy such as ocean thermal energy conversion or wave power?

Sources:

The Unfulfilled Dream of Tidal Power

Dexter Cooper, a young engineer, devoted much of his energy and personal finances to a plan to harness the tides in Cobscook and Passamaquoddy bays to generate electricity. While the plan was technically feasible, political and other considerations stopped its development in 1936.

www.mainememory.net

Popular Science

Popular Science gives our readers the information and tools to improve their technology and their world. The core belief that Popular Science and our readers share: The future is going to be better, and science and technology are the driving forces that will help make it better.

books.google.com

Eastport, Maine Tidal Project | Trapping the Moon

Eighty years ago this summer, Eastport, Maine, thought it was on the cusp of prosperity and fame as work began on history’s most ambitious tidal project.

newengland.com

 

[Arkenfolm]

What about the effects on the Maritimes in Canada? How much of a boost could they get with both the cross border projects with the US as well as their own they'd presumably pursue in the decades after the initial success at Passamaquoddy?

Doing a bit research, I noticed there's plenty of proposals for tidal power in the Cook Inlet in Alaska (fourth highest tides in the world). Unlike the 1950s-era Rampart Dam project, built in the middle of nowhere on the Yukon and with disastrous effects to local wildlife and thousands living in local Alaska Native villages, a massive project in the Cook Inlet would produce about as much power, be right next to the growing city of Anchorage, and cause far less environmental damage. OTL's oil/gas drilling in the Cook Inlet probably is about as bad for local marine life. The tidal barrage could serve as a causeway between the Kenai Peninsula and Anchorage.

And let's not forget how the USSR also has ample tidal power resources such as in Mezen Bay in the White Sea, which could help develop Archangelsk and the oil/gas in nearby Nenetsia and perhaps export power to Leningrad. Penzhina Bay in northern Kamchatka, also has incredible tidal power potential (as proposed in the 21st century) which if Stalin saw the success at Passamaquoddy he might devise a similar scheme to use for powering the Kolyma.

Basically, how much would a successful project in Passamaquoddy Bay in the 1930s open up tidal power to earlier exploitation and research, and just how much might the Maritimes/Maine be improved by this initial phase (let's not forget how much Washington owes to the dams on the Columbia or Tennessee to the TVA)?

 

[da Racontor]

I haven't looked at the project in a long time, but if it did happen, just the amount of workers moving to that area to build it would be a tremendous strain on the local economy.

 

[Workable Goblin]

What might the impact on tidal energy be? I'd assume the station would by the 1940s be revealed as highly effective and useful--would it spark a wave of tidal power construction in the US and globally (i.e. the Severn Barrage in England) based on this now-proven technology? I would assume this would cause less building of nuclear power plants (i.e. the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts or those along the Severn in England) in many areas, since the technology appears to be cheaper per kWh than nuclear energy. Does it result in much more renewable energy earlier, and more investigation into other forms of ocean energy such as ocean thermal energy conversion or wave power?

I'm not sure it would have all that much impact on nuclear power, because tidal power plants would be much more geographically constrained than nuclear power. Conventional hydro is also cheaper than nuclear energy (or just about anything else until modern solar and wind power came along), but there are only so many sites you can build hydro plants so that nuclear was seen as complementary rather than competing (e.g., the TVA's nuclear plants). In the specific case of tidal plants, there's also the periodicity of the tides and the resulting relatively low capacity factor, which nuclear plants obviously don't have any problem with.

(EDIT: This last issue apparently wouldn't have been a problem for the planned project, but in general it will be an issue for tidal power...every location is a bit different geographically and in terms of its tidal qualities, so just because a design works in one place doesn't mean it will work everywhere)

It might result in some more research into ocean energy, but probably not all that much. All of them have their own unique challenges that solving for one project doesn't necessarily solve for others, and they all suffer from the issue that it's "easier" at first to simply use "conventional" power sources (one advantage that nuclear has in this regard is that it simply "replaces" the coal burning portion of an otherwise "normal" power plant). It almost certainly doesn't have much effect on other forms of renewables, except that possibly tidal power becomes something else other than hydro that developing countries build in big development schemes.

 

[Arkenfolm]

I'm not sure it would have all that much impact on nuclear power, because tidal power plants would be much more geographically constrained than nuclear power. Conventional hydro is also cheaper than nuclear energy (or just about anything else until modern solar and wind power came along), but there are only so many sites you can build hydro plants so that nuclear was seen as complementary rather than competing (e.g., the TVA's nuclear plants). In the specific case of tidal plants, there's also the periodicity of the tides and the resulting relatively low capacity factor, which nuclear plants obviously don't have any problem with.

[Sorry for the late response]
It is questionable that if Passamaquoddy in Maine was producing several terawatt hours a year, nuclear plants like the Pilgrim in Plymouth, MA or the Vermont Yankee would have been constructed. Although I suppose that despite the many hydro dams the TVA built, they still expanded into a few nuclear power stations in Alabama and Tennessee. A similar thing happened in Washington even with the huge investment in hydroelectric power.

It might result in some more research into ocean energy, but probably not all that much. All of them have their own unique challenges that solving for one project doesn't necessarily solve for others, and they all suffer from the issue that it's "easier" at first to simply use "conventional" power sources (one advantage that nuclear has in this regard is that it simply "replaces" the coal burning portion of an otherwise "normal" power plant). It almost certainly doesn't have much effect on other forms of renewables, except that possibly tidal power becomes something else other than hydro that developing countries build in big development schemes.

My thought on ocean energy with this POD is that the sort of engineers, technicians, contractors, and equipment would become much more common which would bring down the cost of such energy. This means that we'd move past the simpler tidal barrages a century ago and toward things which modern tidal power companies are doing (including in Passamaquoddy Bay, even if it's currently less than a MW) as well as have plenty of ocean engineers ready to expand into fields like wave energy or just as likely, offshore wind power. Apparently a concern of tidal energy this past decade is that they're no longer competing with conventional fossil fuels, they're now competing with solar and wind, which makes me think tidal energy was our earliest reliable renewable energy source, even if it was geographically limited to places like the Bay of Fundy or the Severn.

Come to think of it, a huge tidal project on the Severn in the interwar period that built on the success of the Passamaquoddy Tidal Project (presumably it would have Canadian and American technicians) would have some butterflies on British coal mining and the manpower needed for it.

 

[ArtosStark]

How great of an impact would this have in this region? These stations will provide a large amount of cheap energy, incentivising energy-intensive industries to locate there. Eastport, ME would of course be a much larger city than OTL and not decline, but what would the broader effect on New England and the Maritimes be?

What might the impact on tidal energy be? I'd assume the station would by the 1940s be revealed as highly effective and useful--would it spark a wave of tidal power construction in the US and globally (i.e. the Severn Barrage in England) based on this now-proven technology? I would assume this would cause less building of nuclear power plants (i.e. the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts or those along the Severn in England) in many areas, since the technology appears to be cheaper per kWh than nuclear energy. Does it result in much more renewable energy earlier, and more investigation into other forms of ocean energy such as ocean thermal energy conversion or wave power?

Tidal energy production is not easy. And the Bay of Fundy is kind of the white whale of tidal energy. The extreme tides mean that the water has a high carrying capacity. This means that it will come in with a lot of silt, sand and rock in solution, and it will move very fast. Obviously that is a ton of potential energy to tap into, but it also has a strong tendency to shred turbines into small pieces of metal. Look at some of the troubles that in flow turbine projects have found further up the Bay.

The solutions that have worked so far is generally to put a dam across a tidal river and use the tidal rise to fill your pool (the river), and produce power based on the difference in head once the tides go out. The Annapolis Tidal station in Nova Scotia is a good example. The problem is that it can only produce when the tide is low enough and with declining capacity as the tides come in. The Passamaquoddy Bay project seemed to try and get around that by using the entirety of Passamaquoddy Bay as a high pool and the entirety of Cobscook Bay as the low pool. Needless to say this is insanely ambitious for probably the first high capacity tidal station in history. I am not convinced that they would be able to pull it off. The use of high and low pools might allow them to reduce the sandblasting effects of the water somewhat but they are still building seven miles worth of dam against some of the most powerful tides in the world, and then trying to funnel that power through turbines in such a way that it does not rip the turbines apart. Its not an easy challenge.

At the least, I would expect considerable cost overruns, and later environmental issues. For every bit that they allow the water to settle, either before or after production of power, it will release some of its load of silt. This will cause significant silting in places and change the coastline somewhat. In might also require a lot of dredging of these bays later on. And I expect that their first attempt at suitable power production machinery will be insufficient, requiring an expensive redesign. Hence the Cost Overruns.

 

[Arkenfolm]

Tidal energy production is not easy. And the Bay of Fundy is kind of the white whale of tidal energy. The extreme tides mean that the water has a high carrying capacity. This means that it will come in with a lot of silt, sand and rock in solution, and it will move very fast. Obviously that is a ton of potential energy to tap into, but it also has a strong tendency to shred turbines into small pieces of metal. Look at some of the troubles that in flow turbine projects have found further up the Bay.

Do you have good links to articles discussing these issues?

At the least, I would expect considerable cost overruns, and later environmental issues.

This will likely happen, meaning that part of Maine becomes less known for fishing and more for industry. But environmental destruction and Depression-era megaprojects went hand in hand as many of the dams built under FDR attest to. Many of those projects like the Grand Coulee Dam would never be allowed in the 21st century.

Now I think they'll get something out of it however, even if it's the smaller version exclusively in American waters, because I think the money invested and prestige of the project would make total failure unacceptable.

 

[ArtosStark]

Do you have good links to articles discussing these issues?

Harnessing the Bay of Fundy: New platform has turbines like a boat's outboard motor

A large floating platform with six underwater turbines was launched Monday near the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, marking the latest high-tech bid to generate electricity by harnessing the bay's powerful tides.

atlantic.ctvnews.ca

There are more, but this one details the most recent attempt with brief summaries of the earlier attempts. The attempt in 2009 was torn apart within days. The one in 2016 was actually connected to the grid but was pulled 7 months later for inspection and maintenance and never went back in. The one in 2018, in addition to collapsing because one of its investors declared bankruptcy a day later, was later revealed to have been damaged beyond repair two months after being placed, and is still sitting, inoperable, at the bottom of the bay. The latest venture went out in February this year. I am not sure of its current status.

To be fair, these were turbines that were trying to harness power in-stream in the centre of the Bay. There would not be quite the same amount of power being thrown at the Passamaquoddy Bay project, but it would still be extremely powerful. This is why I expect their first design of a tidal turbine would be insufficient and require a redesign.

This will likely happen, meaning that part of Maine becomes less known for fishing and more for industry. But environmental destruction and Depression-era megaprojects went hand in hand as many of the dams built under FDR attest to. Many of those projects like the Grand Coulee Dam would never be allowed in the 21st century.

Perhaps, but this type of destruction will eventually affect the long-term viability and cost of the project. When Nova Scotia Power was looking at installing a proof of concept tidal turbine their original choice was near Windsor where a berm was about to be built anyway for a road project. They eventually went to Annapolis Royal due to worries about silting. They were right to worry. There is now several hundred acres of land at a height slightly greater than the high tide line (so 30-40 ft above the low tide line) that was not there in the 1980's. This project would do much the same but all along its length. Silting would be a major problem that would have to be constantly dealt with. And even with the water dropping all that silt, the water through the turbine would still retain enough to effectively sandblast your power generation equipment.

I get the impression that they would not have fully grasped the enormity of the engineering challenge that they had set themselves with this one. It was far more ambitious than they would have any reason to know at the time. No one had done tidal at that scale before (they still haven't actually). I expect this would turn into somewhat of a white elephant project.