Eling Tide Mill Back in Operation

Eling Tide Mill in Totten, Hampshire, England, is still using tidal power to grind grain into flour. The mill was out of operation recently because of a loose pit wheel, but repair efforts allowed operation to resume in February, 2023. (Google Maps image by Jeff Pike.)

After shutting down in 2022 when its pit wheel became loose on the water wheel axle, a historic tide mill in Totten, Hampshire, England, is once again producing flour with power provided by the tides. Eling Tide Mill is one of only a few tide mills in the world still producing flour regularly, according to the mill’s website.

A tide mill may have existed on the site as early as Roman times and the current building is more than 200 years old. The mill ceased operation in 1946, but restoration to an operating flour mill started in 1975 and it officially opened as a working museum in 1980. After the 2022 shutdown, repairs to the pit wheel began in November, 2022, and the mill was operating again by early February. Additional repairs are planned and may require some brief shutdowns in the near future.

Peter Ramm, miller at Eling, has provided a report on the repair. You can read it by clicking here.

Tide Mill Institute Joins National Hydropower Association

by David Hoyle, TMI Leadership Team

The Tide Mill Institute’s leadership team is pleased to announce that TMI has joined the National Hydropower Association (NHA) for 2023. The NHA is a nonprofit national association dedicated to preserving and expanding clean, renewable, affordable hydropower and marine energy. The NHA’s mission is to champion waterpower as America’s premier carbon-free renewable energy resource.

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Tidal and Wave Energy News — December 2022

Compiled by David Hoyle, Tide Mill Institute

General Interest

This article provides explanations of the various types of tidal power generation systems along with excellent diagrams.
What is Tidal Energy? Advantages, Disadvantages, and Future Trends | Earth.Org

United States

The first of the following three articles is an Esquire interview on the topic of marine energy with Jennifer Garson and Tim Ramsey of the US Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office. The second and third articles describe current and future WPTO funding for tidal, wave, and river power generation technology developments.

With Marine Power, It’s Not the Size of Your Turbine, It’s the Motion of the Ocean
US DOE awards $12M for marine energy and hydropower projects
US Government invest $35m in tidal energy and river current systems

PacWave test facility being constructed off the coast of Oregon for testing performance of wave energy devices. It will have the potential to test up to 20 devices and 20 megawatts at one time. (Diagram courtesy of Oregon State University and U.S.D.O.E.)
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First Public Showing Dec 8: Tide Mills of York, Maine

The first public showing of a new video, “The Tide Mills of the York River,” will take place on Thursday, December 8, at 7 p.m. at the Kittery (Maine) Community Center. This new 60-minute video explores the history of tidal-powered mills in York, Maine, which might have been the site of the first tide mill in Colonial America.

The video features aerial drone footage of tide mill sites along with interviews and presentations by Bud Warren and Deane Rykerson of Tide Mill Institute, Joel Lefever of Old York Historical Society, Emerson “Tad” Baker of Salem State College and Robert Gordon of Yale University. Tide Mill Institute and Kennebunk Savings sponsored the video, which was produced by Jim White of Spruce Creek TV and Deane Rykerson.

The showing is free and open to the public, and a panel discussion will follow. Reserve seats by calling 207-439-3800 in advance.

The production had been previewed in November by those attending the annual Tide Mill Institute Conference in Portland, Maine.

Mystery Mill Painting

Mill painting acquired years ago by Tide Mill Institute. Is it a tide mill? Is it an actual location? Please email Tide Mill Institute if you can offer any insight. (Click to enlarge.)

A painting showing a mill building, water wheel and dam somehow wound up in the Tide Mill Institute’s collection of miscellaneous items about ten years ago. It has no identification of any kind, except for an almost unintelligible signature in the lower left that appears to start with the characters H and N.

Two questions about it come immediately to mind:

  • Is it a tide mill?
  • Does it depict an actual location or is it a scene from the artist’s imagination?

If you can provide any information about this painting, please send email to info@tidemillinstitute.org.

New Video Explores Status of Tidal Energy Today

A new video on The Tesla Domain channel of YouTube enthusiastically describes power derived from the tides as a “new wave of clean and renewable energy.” The video offers several impressive animations to explain how tides work and the operation of tidal barrages, tidal stream generators and tidal lagoons, providing an excellent introduction to anyone unfamiliar with these power generation methods.

“This is the Amazing Energy Source That’s More Powerful Than Wind and Solar Together” compares current energy costs for fossil fuel, hydroelectric, and solar generation, showing them roughly equivalent to the cost of energy produced by the La Rance tidal barrage in France. The video balances its optimism with mentions of potential environmental problems of tidal energy generation. It also notes the lack of any tidal generation projects in the U.S.A. while other countries in Europe and Asia are making more meaningful efforts to add tidal power to their mix of energy sources.

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