University of Michigan selects Beaver Island for wave energy study

The University of Michigan Graham Sustainability Institute research team will conduct a feasibility study off the coast of Beaver Island, Michigan, USA, to investigate the possibility of powering remote and underserved coastal communities using wave energy technology.

The project, called Catching the Waves, aims to harness Lake Michigan’s wave energy and generate renewable energy. Potential sites will be evaluated based on wave energy resources, environmental sustainability and community preferences. Selecting the optimal site is a step toward providing Beaver Island with clean, reliable energy and increases the team’s chances of future funding, the University of Michigan said.

The focus of the Catalyst grant is to identify the best location to install a wave energy converter (WEC) on Beaver Island. The project will be supported by a grant of up to $10,000 over eight months to develop new, user-driven, collaborative research ideas or apply existing research to real-world situations.

The project team consists of Xiaofan Li, PI (Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering), Gail Gruenwald (Beaver Island Association), Ayumi Fujisaki-Manome (Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research/Climate & Space Sciences and Engineering), and Lei Zuo (Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering).

Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, home to around 600 permanent residents, relies on unstable power connections and diesel generators. Over the past year, the research team has been working with Beaver Island residents, who will be the primary users of the project. The project is designed to benefit numerous U.S. islands with similar energy problems by implementing a transferable solution.

Local media reported that Xiaofan Li of the University of Michigan highlighted the challenges facing communities like Beaver Island, saying that many of these communities “are in the middle of nowhere” and lacks a reliable power supply. Beaver Island relies on a single undersea cable for power from the mainland, but this is often unreliable, requiring the use of diesel generators as a backup during extreme weather conditions.

According to local media reports, Li mentioned that island residents have expressed great interest in finding a renewable energy source. This summer, Li will join a team of engineers and sociologists to find the best location on the island for a wave energy converter. If the project goes as planned, the University of Michigan hopes to launch a prototype by summer 2026.