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📰 The quick summary: Researchers from the University of Michigan have deployed prototype wave energy converters around Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, offering the remote community a path toward cleaner, locally generated power and greater grid resilience.
📈 One key stat: Power cables stretch roughly 30 miles across the lake bed to reach Beaver Island, making the grid highly vulnerable to extreme weather outages that can leave residents without electricity for weeks.
💬 One key quote: “The Great Lakes provide real-world wave conditions while being much easier, safer, and less expensive to access than most ocean sites,” said Saeid Bayat, a researcher with the University of Michigan.

1️⃣ The big picture: Beaver Island, a forested island of about 600 permanent residents in Lake Michigan, relies on a single undersea cable stretching 30 miles from mainland Michigan for its electricity, making it highly vulnerable to outages during extreme weather. Researchers from the University of Michigan recently deployed two prototype wave energy converters along the island’s shoreline, demonstrating the ability to power a light bulb and charge a cell phone using the kinetic energy of waves. The project grew out of two years of community engagement, with residents identifying the airport as a priority location for a more dependable energy source. Wave energy technology remains expensive and lacks a standardized design, but it has so far avoided much of the federal hostility directed at other renewables, with the Department of Energy’s Hydropower and Hydrokinetic Office allocated $220 million by Congress to continue related research. Beaver Island joins a growing list of remote US communities, from Alaska to Puerto Rico, actively pursuing locally generated clean energy to reduce dependence on fragile, long-distance grid connections.

2️⃣ Why is this good news: Wave energy technology could give remote and island communities like Beaver Island a reliable, locally generated power source that does not depend on vulnerable undersea cables or mainland infrastructure. Proving the concept in the Great Lakes opens up a massive freshwater resource for clean energy research, and the relatively calm, accessible conditions make it far cheaper and safer to test than ocean environments. Because marine and hydrokinetic energy has largely avoided the federal funding cuts targeting other renewables, projects like this one have a clearer path forward than many other clean energy initiatives right now. Success on Beaver Island could accelerate the commercialization of wave power technology across the US and beyond, offering coastal and island communities everywhere a new tool for building energy resilience. Pairing wave energy with solar, geothermal, and other local renewables creates the kind of diversified clean energy mix that can keep communities powered even when extreme weather strikes.

3️⃣ What’s next: The University of Michigan team plans to keep refining the prototype over the coming years before installing a final version on Beaver Island. A parallel wave energy project is already underway at North Carolina’s Outer Banks, broadening the dataset for the technology. Funding through existing National Science Foundation grants supports the near-term work, though longer-term commercialization will depend on reducing costs and developing a more standardized design.

Read the full story here: Grist – This island in the Great Lakes wants to tap waves for energy