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Letter From The Editor
PORTLAND
MONTHLY
Publisher Nancy D. Sargent Senior Editor Colin Sargent Production Manager Margarete C. Schnauck Advertising Director Bobbi L. Goodman Director of Marketing Linda E. Leavitt Art Director John Bidwell Advertising Valerie Tucker Chris Oberholtzer Cindi Baxter Circulation John Bidwell Composition L&L Kern Typesetting Pictures Rhonda Farnham M. C. Schnauck Bookkeeping Johanna Hanaburgh Interns Jeanne Lambrew John Glass
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Tidal Power ~
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Ihad to see it to believe it.
Why?
Because there I was, eating my ham-and-cheese sandwich, and suddenly the wondrousness of the whole thing was beginning to sink in. It could replace Maine Yankee, couldn't it? I mean, Maine is part of the Bay of Fundy, too!
We stopped our car and beheld the splendors of "The Only Tidal Power Generating Plant In North America." Quietly, sparklingly as we watched, this marvel of the Commonwealth of Canada generates 20,000 kilowatts that helps light I-percent of the province of Nova Scotia every day.
A candle in the wind?
Perhaps not.
The little tidal power plant in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia is getting a lot of attention. The $54 million pilot project has even been visited by His Royal Highness Prince Andrew - there's a plaque commemorating his visit on June 27, 1985 - all the more flattering, that date, because I believe that was during Andrew's summer of Koo Stark.
Poor Koo.
But even Koo would gladly step aside in the interest of harnessing "the electric ocean," as the Bay of Fundy has been dubbed, especially if she were aware that a giant version of the Annapolis project is being planned, one that would span the Bay of Fundy from Economy Point to T ennycape and generate 4,864 megawatts, enough power
to knock the eyes out of anyone's Sylvania Blue-Dots. How does it work? The tidal power plallt traps water at high tide on the upriver side of the station with locks, lets the rest of the water run back to the sea during low tide, then lets the saved water try to catch up, only this time passing the anxious water through a series of turbine blades.
It's beautiful, and I'd love to get some mail from people in Maine telling me how it could possibly work here.
