<
https://dailyyonder.com/meet-the-small-business-owners-electrifying-maines-rural-coast/2025/09/10/>
"On a sunny, 85-degree day in August of 2025, some 9,300 oysters were loaded
into ice-filled containers on southern Maine’s Casco Bay. The boat shuttling
them from the warm, shallow waters of Recompense Cove to the marina two miles
away hummed quietly. Notably missing: the roar of an engine and the smell of
diesel.
Heron, the boat in question, is a 28-foot aluminum vessel that runs on two 100%
electric outboards, the motors that hang off of small and medium-sized boats.
It’s one of the first commercial workboats in the United States to use electric
outboards. The vessel officially splashed into the waters of South Freeport,
Maine on July 17, 2025. The moment, though, had been years in the making. It
required a coalition of industry-wide partners, a $500,000 U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) grant, and at least that much in matching funds from the operating
businesses’ cost share agreement and philanthropic investments through the
Rockland, Maine-based Island Institute, the Maine Technology Institute, and
others. Altogether, the $1 million private-public investment covers Heron’s
$425,000 sticker price and the costs to install two high-capacity shoreside
chargers. A portion of these funds also supports data collection and research
to assess the viability of electric technology in the greater aquaculture
industry.
Willy Leathers is the director of farm operations and owner of Maine Ocean
Farms, the mid-size aquaculture business that operates this particular boat.
The 10-acre plot he and farm co-founder Eric Oransky tend to on Recompense Cove
holds about 3 million oysters. The two farmers are among a growing group of
small business owners on the cutting edge of marine innovation along rural and
remote parts of Maine’s coast. They’ve been in operation together just shy of a
decade, and have seen the aquaculture industry spring up around them in the
coves and small islands that make up Casco Bay. Beyond the bay is the wide-open
Gulf of Maine, which has been documented as one of the world’s fastest-warming
bodies of water. Between 2004-2016, it warmed more quickly than 99% of the
global ocean, a trend scientists attribute to climate change caused by humans
burning fossil fuels.
For Leathers and Oransky, there’s a connection between electrifying operations
and transitioning away from the fossil fuels that have impacted their home
waters. But beyond reducing environmental impact, the farmers say there’s
another motivator: being a good neighbor. One feature of replacing traditional
gas and diesel-powered outboards is that the electric versions are quieter.
“Our boats are our workplaces,” said Leathers. “We’re out there for eight hours
a day, five days a week, so reducing noise and reducing on-site emissions is a
goal of not only improving the workplace but also improving our potential
impact on the environment around us, whether in an ecological sense or a
community sense.”"
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-new-york-rent-freeze-housing-crisis/>
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
