Tidal energy and telecoms are proving testy neighbors in the Pacific Northwest.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is trying to broker a peace between Snohomish Public Utility District, which wants to install the first tidal energy turbines on the West Coast, and PC Landing, which operates a major telecommunication cable between Washington State and Japan. Keep reading →
In 2002, more than a dozen structures and countless trees were scorched in the course of the Biscuit Fire, which took down roughly 500,000 acres in southern Oregon. Now a Dayton-area winery with a history of green innovation – Stoller Family Estate – has put a number of those trees to use in its new tasting room, along with a whole lot of solar power.
This wood comes courtesy of the “standing dead,” i.e., trees that were killed by the fire but were left standing, often in excellent shape for those willing to make use of salvaged wood. Stoller put that wood to work in constructing its new tasting room, which features mostly reclaimed wood. Wood from the Biscuit fire was used in the building’s rolling ceiling, while the tasting room’s large support columns were upcycled from an old Portland warehouse. Keep reading →
Ocean Power Technologies has gained approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the complete build-out of its wave power station off the southern Oregon Coast, the first wave power station to be licensed in the U.S.
FERC granted a 35-year license for the wave power station to OPT subsidiary Reedsport OPT Wave Park, LLC. OPT said in a news release that construction of the first PowerBuoy® is almost completed and should be deployed 2.5 miles off the Reedsport coast later this year. After the first buoy is deployed, OPT will build up to 9 additional buoys and their grid connection infrastructure – assuming additional funding and the remaining regulatory approvals are obtained. Keep reading →
