Race Rocks Ecological Preserve

Race Rocks Island in British Colombia Canada is an ecological preserve operated by Pearson College since 1997. Before the project launch the island had an annual electrical draw of approximately 70,000 kWh and was powered by two diesel generators (a 15 kW and 25 kW). From a desire to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and reduce the generator noise, Race Rocks set out to procure a hybrid renewable energy system utilizing both tidal and solar assets.

From the start Race Rocks had a defined list of goals they wanted from the project:

Demonstrate reliability of tidal energy
Replace existing diesel generators and reduce green house gas emissions
Demonstrate a reliable power supply through battery storage
Study the behavior or marine life in relation to tidal turbine
Demonstrate integration of tidal and other renewables
Demonstrate maintenance of system
Contribute to the educational opportunities of Pearson College.

For the deployment Clean Current designed and fabricated a custom 1:5 scale 65 kW bidirectional tidal turbine which was deployed September 2006. During its onsite stay the device experience currents of up to 6.6 knots at a water depth of around 20 m. The device was recovered May 24th 2007 for system repairs with notable biofouling present on system. At the time the device utilized a water lubricated bearing system which was later cited to have "disappointing" performance.

racerocks.ca

Project Manager

Clean Current

Additional Information

Project Website

Project Status Is the project actively being planned or is deployed in the water (active)? Or was the project canceled or completed (inactive)?

Inactive

Project Life Cycle Project Progress through life cycle:<ul> <li>Planned: Project has identified a deployment location and is preparing for deployment</li> <li>Operational: Project is deployed in the water and is active</li> <li>Completed: Project was previously deployed in the water</li> <li>Decommissioned: Installation has been fully removed in accordance with regulations</li> <li>Canceled: Project was canceled before being deployed in the water</li></ul>

Completed

Max Rated Power Capacity The maximum amount of electricity that can be produced by project, based on available resources and device nameplate capacity.

.065 MW

Operational Duration

September 2006 - May 2007

Project Duration

2006 - 2007

Energy Resource

Tidal

Project Scale

Sub-scale

Number of Devices

1

Grid Connectivity

Grid Connected

Waterbody

Salish Sea,

Site Characteristics Geographic characterization for the project location:<ul> <li>Open Ocean: Main body of ocean, not enclosed or partially enclosed by land</li> <li>Coastal: Open water near the coast, spanning between land and shelf boundary</li> <li>Enclosed Bay: water that is partially surrounded by land, with a mouth open to larger water</li> <li>Constricted Channel: A channel where water flows quickly due to narrowing by the land</li> <li>River: Water flowing from land towards a larger body of water</li></ul>

Constricted Channel

Country

Canada

Last Modified

25 July 2025

This Project has the following MRE Devices

Citation Formats

“Race Rocks Ecological Preserve.” Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects, PRIMRE, United States Department of Energy, https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/Race_Rocks_Ecological_Preserve. Accessed <day> <monthRoman> <year>.

Marine Energy Projects Database: Projects. <year>. "Race Rocks Ecological Preserve." Accessed <monthRoman> <day>, <year>. https:https://openei.org/wiki/PRIMRE/Databases/Projects_Database/Projects/Race_Rocks_Ecological_Preserve.

PRIMRE/Databases/Projects Database/Projects/Race Rocks Ecological Preserve

Race Rocks Ecological Preserve

This Project has the following MRE Devices

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