Category Archives: alternate energy

Blustery

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It was a blustery day dominated by the west wind today and with the wind came some cloud cover and cooler maritime air. The barometer rose slightly and then started to drop late in the day. It is likely that we will get both fog and showers tomorrow.

I saw Killer Whales off to the southwest, early, but only had glimpses and wasn’t able to identify them. Whale watching was down to a dull roar with only seven commercial whale-watching boats noted in the reserve today. There was no illegal fishing activity and only one recreational boat that came in to watch the sea lions.

These young Steller's Sea Lions have been wrestling for hours and are taking a break here without either conceding defeat.

These young Steller’s Sea Lions have been wrestling for hours and are taking a break here without either conceding defeat.

The bigger, young, male Steller’s Sea Lions spend hours each day practicing their sparring skills as they try to grab the other by the throat or hold the head of their opponent down through brute force. This activity usually happens in the shallow water next to the haul-out, so they are actually moving around on the rocks underneath them but in the water. It appears to be all in good fun and involves a lot of lunging, avoidance, feints, attacks and parrying. All good practice for when they are big enough to haul out on the breeding grounds and fight with more grim determination to hold their ground and pass their genes on to the next generation.

Brown Pelicans blown in by the westerly winds.

One of the Brown Pelicans blown in by the westerly winds and a young gull.

The west wind blew in four Brown Pelicans today and their arrival seemed to herald a change of season. They were buffeted by the heavy winds and didn’t stay for long.

Other visitors today included the electrician and his assistant/daughter(?) and her friend, who would like to be an eco-guardian some day. The electrician was tilting up the last row of the flat solar panels and inspecting the solar-powered system.

Solar panels provide much of the electricity used on the island and the generator is just used to top-up the batteries. The plan is to add wind generation, which would further enhance sustainable, off-grid, power generation. There is certainly enough wind.

What’s your number?

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It was a day without fog at Race Rocks and as the westerlies continue, some serious clouds can be seen piling up on far horizons. The barometer rose all day, which bodes well for tomorrow but there may be a few needed showers.

It was a busy day on the water with 26 whale watching boats visiting the reserve. From the expressions on the tourists’ faces, they seemed to enjoy watching the sea lions. All the skippers were respectful except for two travelling together who did not heed the go-slow zone.

There were so many recreational fishing boats that I could only keep track of the ones who were in contravention of the DFO Rockfish Conservation Area closure which runs around the reserve at a 40m depth. Many of those fishing inside the boundary were in rental boats but some of the other speed boats were doing what they do best…speeding. The Pedder Bay Marina is really good about talking to folks who rent from them and informing them about the conservation area.

I looked for tagged and branded sea lions again today and can report another nine California Sea Lions and four Stellers’ Sea Lions bringing the total number of branded individuals sighted up to 29. Eventually we will know a bit more about their stories from those numbers they carry. There are also two Stellers with neck rings cutting into their flesh and one with a flasher hanging out of its’ mouth. There are individual Harbour Seals, as well as both species of sea lions with major wounds. Speaking of wounds, there were two new, (to me), very small Elephant Seals on the ramp today, probably young of the year, judging from the size.

A few Pigeon Guillemots are still carrying into fish into the large boulder area by the jetty. The chicks must leave for sea at night as I haven’t seen any on the water and most are probably fledged by now. Each day, there are more Pelagic and Double Crested Cormorants roosting on the southwest side of the island.

The desalinator worked for a couple of hours during the sunshine today, making fresh water thanks to the solar panels.

Month end inventory was conducted today with measurements taken of all the fuel, fresh water, and equipment run times recorded.

My other task was to try and stake out a small territory on the jetty so that I can come and go and do the sampling. The elephant seals are no problem, they just sleep as you pass, or open one eye. Keeping the more belligerent California sea lions off the jetty seems to be a losing battle and has made getting out to the end of the jetty to sample seawater, extra challenging.

The Tidal Current Turbine Energy Project in the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve

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Erika Lee Brown Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

ABSTRACT

the full PDF can be linked here:tidalenergyreport
There is a predicted potential of 42 000MW stored in tidal energy off the coast of Canada which remains widely untapped by the energy industries.[1] Although there has been significant research and development done in the tidal energy sector, it has been a challenge to develop a cost efficient system which has a minimal environmental impact.
In 2006, the first tidal current generator to be built and installed in Canada was deployed north of the Middle Islands in the center of the Race Rocks Ecological Reserve off the coast of British Columbia. The current generator prototype was part of a six year joint research venture between Clean Current and the Race Rock project. The project aided to power Race Rocks using a combination of alternative energy technology to minimize the environmental impact of the facilities in the reserve while providing bases for testing of structural materials of the generator.
After numerous interruptions in power supply were experienced due to mechanical and electrical problems, the final phase of the project was completed in September 2011. The generator was retrieved from the seabed and transported to Vancouver for structural analysis.
The following paper will discuss the parameters of the study, as well as the challenges and problems encountered with the deployment, maintenance and retrieval of the tidal current system. A brief investigation of the outlook of tidal current generator systems as a means of power generation within Canada will also be completed.

 

See the full PDF: http://journals.library.mun.ca/ojs/index.php/prototype/article/view/397/496

Race Rocks Sponsors 2005-2011

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Lester B. Pearson College– is one of ten United World Colleges located around the world. Two hundred students from over 80 countries study the International Baccalaureate curriculum during their two years at Pearson College. Garry Fletcher, a former faculty member who taught Environmental Systems and Biology at Pearson College, is the educational director of racerocks.com. Garry still works with students and staff to guide the educational content of the site. In addition, Laura Verhegge, also a faculty member teaching Biology and Marine Science provides additional guidance to the program. Pearson College operates the former Race Rocks light station facilities as a education centre under an agreement with BC Parks. Chris Blondeau, the Director of Operations for Pearson College provides the Operational Management of Race Rocks, and Ryan Murphy is employed by Pearson College as the on-site Ecoguardian. Pearson College is the lead proponent and partner directing the racerocks.com project.

 Apple Computers (Canada)– The Computers we use for the live video webcasts from Race Rocks are all made by APPLE COMPUTERS. In July of 2000, Apple Canada became a partner in the Millennium Partnership program with the donation of a Macintosh PowerBook G3. 500 MHz. It followed up with further support in April of 2001 with the donation of a G4 500 MHz portable computer, and a G4 1GHz computer a year later. These new high speed computers have been essential in broadcasting the manually operated live programs from the islands. They have been a most valuable addition for our live video webcasting programs.

Apple Learning Interchange The QuickTime live video streams are being hosted by the Apple Learning interchange over the Akamai Internet distribution network. In April of 2001, a set of three airport cards was provided by ALI in order to make all the cameras webcasting wirelessly from the island. In late 2003, Apple has upgraded our equipment at Race Rocks with the contribution of 2 AirPort Extreme base stations and three 1GHz eMac computers for the webcasting cameras at Race Rocks. In addition, they provided funds for the purchase of the new robotic camera 5 for the island. Race Rocks support pages, ideas for educational applications and learning activities are available at: http://newali.apple.com/ali_sites/ali/exhibits/1000007/


TELUS  has been a major supporter of the rac erocks.com since its inception. This link provides the history of our long term relationship and dependence on TELUS.In 2008 , Pacific Coast Environmental Metrics assisted by volunteering time to set up a new database to restore and improve the daily log for the racerocks.com website.  PCEM donated the database hosting for the log

DONORS: This file presents several of our donors to the Race Rocks program.

The Hesse Family: Mr. and Mrs. Hesse of Metchosin have been long-term enthusiasts for ornithology. They decided to help us with our Race Rocks Program in 2003 and 2005 with a generous donation to the program. They have both passed away now but have left a generous legacy to the college.

Dr. Anita Brinkmann Voss : has provide long-term scientific support and financial assistance to the racerocks.com program.

In the design of the Race Rocks Taxonomy central index file, I have been able to rely on the freely available JavaScript DHTML code supplied by Andy Wooley of Milonic. The availability of such free assistance on the web has been essential to the building of this website .

Graduate Students: We are particularly fortunate to benefit from the services and support of a number of alumni of Lester B. Pearson College who have donated their time or have given direct financial assistance to racerocks.com

Ken Dunham ( PC year 9) has designed and implemented the advanced network at Pearson College, and recently extended these facilities across the water to Race Rocks.

Giovanni Rosso (PC year 24) has provided the money for a digital camera and a videocamera for underwater work at Race Rocks.

Jochen Kumm (PC year 10) has provided a computer for the Ecological Overview database.

Ryan Murphy (PC year 25) is now employed as the ecoguardian at Race Rocks and has provided images for the racerocks.com website.

Pearson College Students at Race Rocks

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Jake and Aaron installing tilt kit on a second block of solar PV panels

On Friday afternoon Chris brought a group of 5 students and Jake to stay on the island for the weekend.   The group was a big help with several projects including installing a second solar PV tilt kit on the roof of the Engine Room, helping build a rainwater capture system, relocating construction materials, and transferring diesel for heating.

On Saturday Danie made marine life observations on the South side of the island, she counted 5 sealions, 40 Cormorants, 10 gulls, and 7 Black Oyster catchers. Also on Saturday Julie did a Marine Sciences research experiment on the relationship between ocean current strength and depth.  While conducting the experiment we had some trouble with the outboard engine fuel line on the Whaler so Chris came out in Second Nature to get us going again.

Today around 11:00 hrs Chris came back out to the island to take them all back to campus. It has been another great weekend with students at Race Rocks, big thanks for all the help and good times.  Also. thanks to Jake for taking the lead on the tilt kit and to Chris for providing support and transportation on the weekend.

Chris taking students back to campus in Second Nature

Clean Panels, High Pressure and Sprouts

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The solar tilt kit that we installed last week seems to be doing a good job keeping the panels clean, one less block to wash!  In the background I think you can make out the lump that is Misery on Middle Rock.

Atmospheric pressure today was the highest it has been in the past month. This has corresponded with nice mild weather out here the past few days. Pressure peaked around midnight and has been falling throughout the day. Winds have been picking up since the afternoon, gusting over 25 knots West.

 

I have mainly been organizing and cleaning in the house today.  For lunch, I harvested some of my first crop of island grown alfalfa sprouts.

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Loaded, Blasted, Tilted, Misery

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Yesterday morning Erik came out on Second Nature with Julien,
Garry, and Jake.  He took off a pretty full load of wood scraps from a reno of the crane deck, garbage,  4 monitors, propane tanks, old composting toilet, etc.  DND blasting occurred at 11:11, 11:14, 11:35 (twice), and 11:36.   This morning around 4 am I heard a male elephant seal, presumably Misery, who has been back on the island all day.  I worked with Jake on installing the first solar PV tilt kit on the roof of the engine room.  The kit is apparently rated to withstand 125 mph winds.  It should provide greater solar exposure and accumulate less gull excrement thereby requiring less desalinated water to clean.

Tidal Current Energy Experiment Comes to an End.

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September 17, 2011: Clean Current Staff and diving contractors return to Race Rocks to remove the generator for the last time. The generator returns to Vancouver for a final analysis of structural details after exposure in the ocean over the last three years . After cleaning,  it is to be sent to the Museum of Science and Technology in Ottawa, since it was the first ocean tidal generator to be built and deployed in Canada.

“In conclusion: The Tidal Current Generator operation over the past six years has been an interesting experiment and a good demonstration of the potential power from tidal energy.  The added value to the availability of energy for Race Rocks  was however very disappointing.

The main value to the Race Rocks program has been in the infrastructure that has been developed and installed and the potential for further research. The provision now of most of the energy needs by solar power was only made possible by the large bank of storage batteries provided by the project, the island energy building electrical infrastructure and the partnership with the BC Ministry of Mines and energy which were instrumental in providing the initial solar panels.  Installation of further solar panels and upgrades by Lester Pearson College UWC has helped to ensure energy sustainability for Race Rocks.

–Garry Fletcher

 

Tidal Current Energy Project at Race Rocks 2006-2011

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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

 

 

Environmental protection of the Ecological Reserve with the Installation of the Tidal current Generator at Race Rocks..2004

 

BC Parks Use Permit for the tidal energy project..2004

 

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ENCANA Partners to enable Pearson College- ENCANA – Clean Current Tidal Power Demonstration Project at Race Rocks Feb 25, 2005

 

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

 

 

 

Underwater 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

 

 

 

tidalturbinrPresentation 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

 

 

 

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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 Turbine