Cohort 1: Ocracoke Island, North Carolina

Ocracoke, North Carolina, worked with the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) to understand how Hyde County and Ocracoke Island’s electric utility could prepare for decarbonization of North Carolina’s ferry system.

Project Summary

Ocracoke is an unbridged island in the chain of barrier islands along the North Carolina coast. Tideland Electric Membership Corp. (EMC), the eighth-smallest electric cooperative in the state, serves the island’s electricity needs. Electricity comes to the island via underwater cable from neighboring Hatteras Island, which is served by a cable running under Oregon Inlet to the north. As a result, Ocracoke Island has limited energy capacity, high vulnerability to coastal storm-driven outages, and experienced extended power outages caused by human and construction-related errors.

The main transportation links to the island for residents, visitors, services, and vendors alike are the ferries of the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The Ferry Division is studying the electrification of its short-haul routes. With ferry decarbonization expected in the future, a key challenge for this small island and its small electric cooperative will be the power capacity and infrastructure upgrades and additions needed to support ferry power and charging.

Focusing on the ferry route linking Ocracoke to Hatteras Island, ETIPP took a five-part approach:

1. Assess the duration, distance, and conditions of the ferry route
2. Determine the schedule and length of ferry dwell times at the dock
3. Identify the energy needs per round trip
4. Understand electric vehicle supply equipment or charging station and storage requirements
5. Identify the infrastructure and associated installations that will be needed shoreside.

By understanding the route and dwell periods, ETIPP researchers could assess historical ferry fuel usage data to pinpoint the energy needed for each ferry trip, calculate the power that would need to be available, and understand the infrastructure required to supply the power.

Project Outcomes

Because the community and utility provider have limited resources, ETIPP has served a critical role in creating new opportunities for Tideland EMC with U.S. Department of Energy programs and providing access to experts in grid resiliency and long-term planning for shore-side support for vessel electrification. As the ferries provided a critical lifeline for the island of Ocracoke, ETIPP has been a positive driver in strengthening partnerships across the community that are working toward developing sustainable and resilient solutions for the future.

Key Takeaways

Securing data in a format that could seamlessly be plugged into analysis tools was one challenge for this project, and ETIPP researchers often had to make their own interpretations and assumptions about information. For example, fuel logs were shared, but extracting fuel use data required some interpretation and assumptions. Partners on future ETIPP projects may benefit from conversations about data limitations and input from community members about assumptions related to data to make the information as applicable to real-world scenarios as possible.

Opportunities and Impacts

Ocracoke residents will continue to work with Hyde County, the North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division, and Tideland, and outcomes from this project will be valuable in developing capital investment strategies and funding opportunities for maritime decarbonization.

Additional Information

Project Details: Vessel Electrification Investigation for the North Carolina Department of Transportation Ferry Division Fleet, Connect North Carolina Department of Transportation (2022)

Researchers Eye Alternative Energy to Power State Ferries, Coastal Review (2021)