Permit sought for 2nd tidal project

PERRY – The Trescott engineer who has gained the attention of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission with his proposal to build both a tidal power dam and a liquefied natural gas facility on U.S. Navy property in Cutler now has a third energy project to offer.

Normand Laberge wants to construct a second tidal power dam at Half Moon Cove on Cobscook Bay in Perry. Last week he called the Half Moon Cove location “the perfect site.”

“The Cutler tides are good, but the Half Moon Cove tides are the best,” he said in describing the development plan.

Laberge has asked FERC’s Division of Hydropower Administration and Compliance for a permit to conduct a study of the suitability of Half Moon Cove for the power-generation proposal. Now he will wait for the agency to review and accept it for a public filing.

FERC is the federal government’s primary agency for reviewing and granting permits for energy-related projects.

Laberge applied for the permit as Tidewalker Associates, a small group of partners. Two other partners are still unnamed at this point.

Laberge’s proposed site is between Eastport and Perry, once the location of a toll bridge connecting Moose Island in Eastport to the mainland at Perry. The dam, rock fill with a clay core, would be approximately 1,200 feet long.

Thirty years ago when he first moved Down East, Laberge, now 59, had identified Half Moon Cove as a potential site for a tidal-powered dam. He spent eight years trying to start the project before it fizzled out.

“I partially blame myself for my inexperience and not being a salesman,” he said. “At that age I was not aware of all the politics and maneuvering that was necessary. I just wasn’t ready.”

Today he has dusted off that proposal, updated it, and now submitted it.

For the past 14 years he has worked as the environmental compliance officer at the Navy’s communications facility in Cutler, where 45 antenna towers stretch over a 2,500-acre peninsula. There are 85 other federal civilian employees at the high-security site.

On June 12, Laberge received notice from FERC that his Cutler tidal power proposal had been accepted for filing, with a 60-day window now running for public comment.

Laberge believes that Half Moon Cove could be studied as an independent site, with the possibility of being linked with his proposed site in Cutler.

“In consideration of national priorities for the development of local and renewable sources of electricity, tidal power represents the opportunity for the establishment of a power plant in a sparsely populated county of Maine,” Laberge wrote in his application letter.

“The power will enter the existing utility grid as either intermittent power or dependable power as linked with a second tidal power facility.”