University of Michigan Chooses Beaver Island for Wave Energy Research

A research team from the Graham Sustainability Institute at the University of Michigan will conduct a feasibility study off the coast of Beaver Island, Michigan, USA. The study is part of an effort to investigate the potential for powering remote and underserved coastal communities with wave energy technology.

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

The Catalyst grant will focus on identifying the best location to deploy a Wave Energy Converter (WEC) on Beaver Island. The project is supported by a grant that provides up to $10,000 over eight months to develop new, user-driven, collaborative research ideas or to apply existing research to real-world situations.

The project team includes Xiaofan Li, PI (Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering), Gail Gruenwald (Beaver Island Society), Ayumi Fujisaki-Manome (Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes/Climate and Space Science and Engineering), and Lei Zuo (Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering).

Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, home to about 600 permanent residents, relies on intermittent power connections and diesel generators. For the past year, the research team has been working with Beaver Island residents, who will be the project’s primary end users. The project aims to benefit numerous islands across the U.S. that face similar power challenges by implementing a portable solution.

Local media reported that Xiaofan Li of the University of Michigan highlighted the challenges faced by communities like Beaver Island, stating that many such communities “they are in the middle of nowhere” and there is no reliable power supply. Beaver Island relies on a single underwater cable for power from the mainland, which is often unreliable, requiring the use of backup diesel generators in the event of extreme weather.

According to local media, Li mentioned that the islanders 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 according to plan, the University of Michigan hopes to have a prototype in place by summer 2026.