Harnessing Water as a Source of Marine Renewable Energy

I worked as a GIS intern at Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) in the summer of 2023. ORPC is a marine renewable energy company based in Portland, ME which builds hydrokinetic devices that harness the energy of moving water in rivers and tidal areas. ​​

As an intern, I learned to use ArcGIS Pro to build maps of potential project sites in the Niagara and Mississippi Rivers. Building on a skillset I developed last fall with Professor Evan Dethier, I also wrote code in Google Earth Engine to identify river ice from satellite imagery in Alaska. ORPC will use the results of my project to help select project sites in Alaska.

I love the problem-solving that satellite imagery analysis requires (telling a computer how to differentiate between clouds, ice, and open water is no easy task!) and I hope to use Earth Engine in future school and work projects. I concluded my work by writing a report on the ice-identification project, which helped me develop my scientific writing and data visualization skills. I’m grateful to ORPC for pushing me to explore my own skills and interests, and I would highly recommend this internship for other students.

Internship funded by the Peter Buck Internship Fund​.