Jan 31 2011
Pulse Tidal, an Anchorage-based company, has received a grant of $50,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a tidal power project initiative.
The company is planning to utilize the money to check the viability of installing a hydrokinetic tidal power generator below an offshore drilling platform located in Cook Inlet. The Cook Inlet said to have the second highest level of tidal array in the world is flocked by tidal power production companies from all over the world.
The USDA program also known as Rural Energy for America Program provides either 25% of the project costs or a maximum of $50,000 as funding for the project. The USDA provides funding for clean energy projects to encourage ecologically friendly energy generation. According to Chad Stovall, who works for USDA’s Palmer office and assisted Pulse Tidal in getting the grant, the feasibility study for the project will cost around $500,000 for the company.
Stovall further said that the tidal project site proposed by Pulse Tidal falls close to the southern portion of Cook Inlet and the prevailing limitations in USDA grant do not encourage projects close to the Municipality of Anchorage.
Source: http://www.usda.gov