Last month I (Graham from the VCC team) had the privilege of joining an A&N Electric Co Op staff trip to Tangiers and Smith Islands in the Chesapeake Bay. You may remember the islands if you read Katherine Paterson’s Jacob, Have I Loved for school in your childhood, as I did. These two islands are on the forefront of climate change – a recent documentary referred to the residents as “potentially America’s first climate refugees.” ANEC and their partners at Old Dominion Electric Cooperative work to bring electricity out to these remote islands. The challenge is to continue to provide power to remaining residents as the sea level rises and population dwindles.
Our tour started meeting at the Onancock Marina we took the A&N boat to Tangiers first, about a 40-minute journey. Our captain was a Tangiers native, along with our guide Denny Crockett. He is the Tangiers and Smith director for ANEC – living on the island among his customers. As Tangiers has a population of about 400, he sees his customers everywhere he goes!
Another noteworthy part of Tangiers is the dialect – folks speak as closely to how early settlers of Virginia spoke as anyone left alive. When you talk to someone from Tangiers, you may think you are talking to someone from Scotland. John Smith or John Rolfe spoke like this.
The island of Tangiers is bisected by marsh with little bridges crossing it. Most folks get around on golf carts – there is little point in having a car on an island so small. It’s clear to see where the marsh is rising over the buildings.
On Tangiers, ANEC has a cable that comes up from under the Bay that brings mainland power to the islands. There are also two diesel generators capable of powering the Islands in emergencies or when ODEC requires the extra power.
Smith Island is smaller than Tangiers in population, only around 200 people, but seems a little wealthier. ANEC is exploring building a battery storage facility on some land it owns on Smith. This plan is a way to supplement power availability without adding more diesel generators to a place so remote.
VCC thanks our friends at ANEC for the tour and commends their good and creative work keeping the lights on in remote areas.
