Resilience at the Edge: City of Eastport Considers Harnessing Tidal Power for Island Microgrid

Photo by Jack Sullivan, Island Institute, NREL. Retrieved from cleantechnica.com

The 1,300 people who call Eastport, Maine, home live in the easternmost point in the continental United States. The bridged island, connected to the mainland by a single causeway, faces powerful Atlantic Ocean winds and is susceptible to disruptive power outages. But it was not always that way.

The city was once abundant with sardine factories, supported by a diesel-fueled substation that has since closed, along with the factories. In the years since the substation went offline, power has been more unreliable, especially as storms have intensified.

“When the power in Eastport went off, you could count to 15 and this substation would power back up,” Eastport City Council Member Jeanne Peacock said. “People here were used to never being without electricity, which is kind of nice when you’re 7 miles out into the ocean and there’s a lot of wind and weather. So people would like to have that back.”