Come to the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center in Vineyard Haven on Friday, March 31, to learn more about electric ferries at the Ferries Now event. The event is being organized by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship, Vineyard Power, and Vineyard Wind. According to MVC energy planner Kate Warner, signups begin on Wednesday, March 1, which can be accessed at bit.ly/3IATwD2.
Ferries Now is described on the Film Center’s website as an educational event for Islanders about the current state of electric ferry adoption. Speakers with ferry electrification and maritime experience will be present, including Halfdan Abrahamsen, project manager of Ærø EnergyLab, the renewable energy office of the Municipality of Ærø, Denmark, who has been a part of the effort to replace diesel ferries with electric ferries. Also participating will be Hank Berg, general manager and CEO of the Casco Bay Island Transit District, a quasi-municipal entity based in Portland, Maine that provides year-round ferry services to the six Islands in Casco Bay. Mark Higgins, director of the Maine State Ferry Service, which is currently building the first ocean-going hybrid-electric RO/PAX ferry in the United States, and Matthew von Ruden, the program administrator for the Washington State Ferry System, will be on hand too.
After a brief lunch, representatives from the Steamship Authority, their consultants, and Eversource will speak on the challenges of electrifying its fleet.
Warner encourages people to attend in person, but a Zoom option is available for those unable to come.
The electrification of Steamship Authority ferries has been an ongoing discussion and the Vineyard Haven-Woods Hole route may be the viable option for where an electric fleet can operate. If electric ferries join the fleet, it won’t be the first time southern Massachusetts has seen them. In 1929, an electric ferry was chartered by the New England Steamship Co., the authority’s predecessor.
Warner said the goal of the event is to “raise the level of knowledge” about electric ferries from other parts of the world. She said while the authority has not committed to a concrete plan yet, she hopes the event can help those interested to urge ferry service toward electrification.
“It is going to be a long process,” Warner said. “Washington state has had a 15-year plan. It won’t happen overnight.”
One action the authority took was the alternative propulsion study that was presented in May, which some people from Martha’s Vineyard and Falmouth questioned and had concerns about. In particular, Warner said a lack of a plug-in hybrid option in the study was a point of concern.
“That’s something that I think will come up at Ferries Now,” Warner said.
According to Warner, there are many considerations for electric ferries such as upgrades to electric infrastructure and whether to retrofit existing boats or to buy electric ones, among others. One aspect Warner was certain on was that the authority needs to meet Massachusetts’ goal of being carbon-free by 2050. She said having a strategic plan for such a long and expensive process “makes sense.”
Eversource will provide information about what type of upgrades would be needed to provide the energy needed to power electric ferries, according to Warner. “It’s a tremendous amount of electricity to get this going,” she said.
Although the authority’s consultants also worked on Washington’s electric ferries, Warner said there will be different considerations for costs. She said Washington’s electric supply is much cheaper than Massachusetts because a lot of it is run with hydropower. She said having offshore wind will “change the equation” with more reliable power and prices that are more stable than fossil fuels.
The event is free and doors open 30 minutes before screening, and there is limited parking at the Tisbury Marketplace. The event is expected to take place from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm.
Kate Warner: having offshore wind will “change equation” with more reliable power. I hope so. I have lived year-round on MV for 28 years, and I remember the winds dying down in the summers. We’ll see.
James. Of course the wind is variable,and there will be some days that it will not blow.
But fear not, despite what one former president said about it, your tv will not go off when the wind stops blowing anymore than when any power plant shuts down for maintenance. In fact it would seem that wind power is actually more reliable than an oil fired power plant, as when an oil fired plant has to shut down for maintenance it loses 100% of it’s generating capacity. The windmills will undergo regular maintenance one at a time.
But, to address your concern, the wind is a little different at higher elevations. The average wind speed at 300 ft ( slightly below the center of the rotor hubs) in this area is about 19 mph.
https://www.nrel.gov/gis/assets/images/wtk-100-north-america-50-nm-01.jpg
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