Energy News Roundup: August 21-August 27

This week in regional energy news …

• Governor Baldacci and Ocean Renewable Power Co. celebrated the success of ORPC’s tidal project in Eastport on Tuesday.  The Coast Guard was on hand, as well, as the 60-kW tidal turbine powers the USCG’s search and rescue boat stationed in Eastport.  The boat will receive all its electricity from the tidal project, and no electricity from the grid.
• The federal government has other renewable projects in the Downeast region: in Southwest Harbor, the Coast Guard has erected a wind turbine to supply power to USCG crew residences in the area.
• Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that Canada’s government has agreed to devote $12 million to a wind energy generation, research, and development park on Prince Edward Island.  Meanwhile, P.E.I. residents have succeeded in curbing their electricity usage by 20 percent over the past two years.
• An Arizona-based wind turbine manufacturer announced plans to open another manufacturing center in Fall River, Mass.  The state has awarded the company a $250,000 grant to get the development rolling.
• NStar has asked the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities for a rate reduction of approximately one-third, in light of far lower natural gas prices.
• Consultants to Massachusetts’s attorney general report that electricity from the Cape Wind project will cost on average 23 cents per kilowatt-hour for the first 15 years the project is operational.