Divers attached buoys to the 4 anchor blocks this morning as the tidal turbine removal gears up. There were 8 visitors to the island today.
Category Archives: Admin
Tidal Current Energy Project at Race Rocks 2006-2011
Background of the Integrated Energy Project for Race Rocks:
Starting in 1997, Lester B. Pearson College had to raise the funds to keep the diesel generators working to supply electricity to the island. The cost of doing this was originally $11,000 per year and within 4 years reached $20,000. The lighthouse light and foghorn had been made energy self- sufficient with 8 solar panels and a battery array installed by the Coast Guard by 1997. By 1998 we were proposing to develop support for alternate energy technologies to make the rest of the island energy-self sufficient and in so doing, create a curriculum resource on alternate energy for science courses at Lester Pearson College and elsewhere.
The Tidal Current Energy Project which was part of the Integrated Energy Transition at Race Rocks operated from 2006 to 2011. It was essentially a big experiment, and was one that showed the difficulties encountered in working with Tidal Energy installations, while providing the leverage to help Race Rocks transition from fossil fuels to environmentally sustainable forms of energy in operation of a remote educational facility.
This archive provides a chronological account of the process we at Lester Pearson College undertook in this endeavour.
History and Background Information on the Alternate Energy Project at Race Rocks.
Along with the Tidal energy part of the project , there was also the Solar energy component. It is profiled here: The Solar Energy Component of the Integrated Energy project
Traditional Energy Generation
By Diesel Oil at Race Rocks .Environmental Impacts of the Existing Diesel Powered Generator
BC Parks Use Permit for the tidal energy project..2004
Preliminary Environmental Screening for building of Battery Storage facility May 2005
BC Parks Preliminary Assessment for Cable entry and crossing of the island May 2005
U
nderwater testing of structural materials to be used for the turbine
Deployment and retrieval of the ADCP instrument for Current measurement 2005
BC Parks Impact Assessment Process for Piling Location , Nov2 2005
Nov 2 2005
Video of Invertebrates on the substrate at Tidal Current Energy site March 2006
Dredging the overburden for the tidal energy installation.
Installation of the Anchors for Drilling for the Tidal Current Energy Project
Drilling for the Piling Installation
Drilling Problems encountered in installation of the tidal current energy Piling
Installation of bottom part of the piling
Installation of upper part of the piling
Laying of the cable to shore Aug.20-22, 2006
Testing of the Turbine in Pedder Bay
Installation of the turbine Sept. 27, 2006
Installation of the turbine control unit Sept 2006
PM Stephen Harper visits Race Rocks for an “ecoenergy announcement” Jan 19, 2007
Video on the Pearson College, EnCana, Clean Current Tidal Power Demonstration Project at Race Rocks
Presentation at the European Commission Coordinated Action on Ocean Energy (CA-OE)Workshop on Environmental, Economics, Development Policy, and Promotion of Opportunities, Copenhagen, Denmark 26-27 April 2007
6 months of growth on the Tidal Current turbine April 2007
Connor Scheu and Wouter Zwart April 2, 2009 the outputs of energy from the system.
April, 2007.The tidal energy turbine is raised to change the bearings which had been deteriorating faster than expected.
Redeployment of the Tidal Energy Turbine October 2008
Underwater materials performance testing/fouling 2008
END of Tidal Energy project and removal of TurbineBoats in reserve today
I counted 65 boats in the reserve today, just under half were visits by eco-tours. Recreational boaters did not cause any disturbances and all but 5 kept to the 7 knot speed limit for the reserve. One recreational fisher poached in the reserve off North Race before leaving to fish in Pedder Bay.
Sea lions and boaters
California Sea Lion: 164(front lawn @ dawn)
Northern Sea Lion: 27(front lawn @ dawn)
The weekend was not as busy as I had expected, however there were hundreds of people here from sunrise to sunset. The general public has shown increased knowledge or respect for the reserve guidelines and the majority of the traffic was sight-seers. I am pleased to report there were 0 marine mammal disturbances yesterday. However, rental boats with weekend-warrior fishermen continue to threaten the Race Rocks ecosystem. Pedder Bay Marina continues to respond to reports from the Eco-Guardian concerning illegal fishing by their customers. There were 6 boats poaching in the reserve yesterday, half belonging to Pedder Bay Marina. There were 0 visitors to the island today.
Orca feeding on south side Great Race
Elephant Seal: A female elephant hauled up on Great Race yesterday afternoon. Haven’t had a chance to get an ID on it. Looks too small to be Bertha.
Orca: T31 was found to be feeding around the SW side of Great Race and over Rosedale in a strong ebb.
Human Interaction:
An OBMG vessel was spotted transiting the main passage at very high speed ~1245hrs. The vessel also approached too close to sea lions on the Rocks.
A fishing vessel entered the Reserve at high speed this afternoon.
vessel traffic and Orcas
Human Interaction
At 1422hrs PDT a vessel was spotted passing over Rosedale Reef E to W at high speed.
A pod of orcas was observed passing through Race Passage W to E this afternoon.
Assisting boaters
At ~1000hrs PDT the vessel “Rogue” was spotted speeding out of the Reserve and maneuvering unnecessarily.
At ~1014hrs PDT a Prince of Whales vessel was spotted throttling up and speeding out of the Reserve.
A small runabout with three POB (people On Board) pulled up to the island this afternoon, out of gas and with battery issues. The ecoguardian sold some gas to the men and helped them to recharge their battery before they headed off towards Becher Bay.
There were 2 visitors to the island today.
At 1019 hrs PDT a vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve heading west.
More boater problems
Human Interaction
At 0845hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted speeding along the outside of the kelp bed east of Great Race.
At 0906hrs PDT a red vessel was spotted speeding out of the west side of the main channel.
At 0932hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with blue trim was spotted speeding out of the west side of the main channel.
At ~1000hrs PDT the eco-tour vessel Serengeti from Seafun Safaris was spotted speeding out of the Reserve around the kelp bed east of Great Race.
At ~1000hrs PDT a white vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve from the east side of the main channel.
At 1016hrs PDT a blue aluminum vessel with ~3 POB was spotted speeding into the Reserve beside West Race. The vessel slowed once it actually entered the kelp bed near Middle Race. The vessel proceeded to transit the main passage W to E, then turn around and transit E to W before throttling up at the western edge of Great Race.
At 1025hrs PDT a white vessel was spotted speeding into Rosedale Reef via the edge of the kelp bed east of Great Race. The vessel approached less than 100 metres to the South Rocks before turning around and proceeding around the kelp bed to the main channel, eastern boundary. The vessel proceeded to the NE sea lion haul out and approached within 20 metres of sea lions on the jetty. Three persons were on board the vessel with license number BC1668350.
At 1040hrs PDT a white Bayliner with three persons on board proceeded to approach within 100 metres of sea lions hauled out on the jetty and on the NE rocks. The vessel license number was BC1668350. This incident was reported to DFO.
At 1130hrs PDT a white Bayliner with blue trim and four persons on board proceeded to approach within 100 metres of sea lions hauled out on the jetty and NE rocks. The vessel also made a point of circling and maneuvering unnecessarily in front of the jetty while sea lions were in the water. The vessel name was Sea Sprite and the license number is 2J 3444. This incident was reported to DFO.
At 1145hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with blue trim was spotted fishing around the east side of the kelp bed east of Great Race. The vessel continued to fish as it trolled towards Great Race, crossed the main channel and exited via the North-Middle Race channel. The vessel license number was BC1589784. Three persons on board. This incident was reported to DFO.
At 1215hrs PDT a small fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve near North Race.
At 1327hrs PDT an aluminum vessel with a canvas canopy sped around and into the Reserve via the kelp bed east of Great Race.
At 1235hrs PDT a grey RHIB sped into the Middle-North Race channel while producing significant wake.
At 1343hrs PDT a fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding into the Reserve on the south side of Great Race. The vessel slowed eventually.
At 1347hrs PDT the aluminum vessel spotted at 1327hrs was found to be speeding out of the Reserve heading east.
At 1347hrs PDT a small fibreglass vessel with two persons on board was found to approaching closer than 100 metres to sea lions near the jetty. THis vessel sped westward out of the Reserve at 1352hrs PDT.
At 1416hrs PDT the grey RHIB previously found to be speeding into the Reserve was spotted speeding out towards the east.
At 1439hrs PDT Ocean Magic entered the Reserve at a speed greater than 7 knots producing a very large wake.
At 1440hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was found to be within 100 metres of sealions on the jetty.
At 1440hrs PDT a small white fibreglass vessel was found to be speeding into the Reserve from the east.
At 1442hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel was found to be speeding out of the Reserve heading east.
At 1512hrs PDT a white fibreglass vessel was spotted speeding out of the Reserve heading eastbound.
Marine vessel activity
Human Interaction
At 0800hrs PDT a vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock.
At 0800hrs PDT a second vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock.
At 0800hrs PDT a third vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock.
At 0825hrs PDT a fourth vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock.
At 0825hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted trolling along the N side of North Rock.
At 0833hrs PDT the OBMG vessel previously found to be fishing was spotted speeding through the Reserve on the N side of North Rock.
At 0936hrs PDT a small aluminum vessel was spotted fishing near the kelp bed on the east side of the south rocks. By the time the station vessel was launched the vessel had departed.
At 1014hrs PDT large fibreglass boat was spotted trolling through the RCA north of North Rock.
At 1250hrs PDT an OBMG vessel was spotted fishing east of Rosedale Reef. The station boat was deployed to deal with the issue.
At 1545hrs PDT a large displacement hull vessel passed through the narrow, small channel between Great Race and the south rocks and was thus in close proximity to sea lions swimming around East Bay