ORPC lands grant to advance its river-power generator technology
Courtesy / Ocean Renewable Power Co.
Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Co.'s RivGen power turbine is shown prior to be lowered into the Kvichak River at the remote Alaskan village of Igiugig last August.
Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Co. is slated to receive $1.54 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to advance the commercialization of its RivGen Power System technology that successfully generated power at the remote Alaskan village of Igiugig in 2014 and 2015.
The DOE’s Phase 1 installment totals $392,500 and will be used to further improve the design and operation of ORPC’s marine hydrokinetic technology for rivers.
In the two years of its pilot project in the Kvichak River at Igiugig, ORPC’s river-power generator displaced the community’s use of diesel fuel for electricity generation by one third. The deployment of the 25-kilowatt RivGen system in the Alaskan village, which is located 275 miles southwest of Anchorage, was seen as a test of its ability to reduce and stabilize the cost of power in remote communities near rivers and tidal estuaries that currently use diesel fuel for power generation.
“We're thrilled to continue work with our partners in Igiugig to reduce and stabilize their cost of energy, and in so doing, strengthen the community's sustainability,” ORPC President and CEO Chris Sauer said in a company press release announcing the latest DOE award. “We are moving forward to replicate our collaboration in Igiugig in other remote communities in Alaska, Canada and worldwide.”
The cost of generating electricity in Igiugig is nearly $0.80/kWh (the national average is $0.10/kWh) due to the community's remoteness and its reliance on diesel. Located in the Bristol Bay region of southwestern Alaska, Igiugig and the Kvichak River are accessible only by boat and plane and are home to the largest sockeye salmon fishery in the world.
“ORPC's RivGen® Power System is allowing Igiugig to generate power locally without using diesel fuel or creating any carbon emissions,” AlexAnna Salmon, president of the Igiugig Village Council, said in ORPC’s release. “Increasing our self-sufficiency is critical to our future and aligns with our core values of maintaining a subsistence way of life. This project is a model for other remote communities considering alternative power and will accelerate Igiugig's path toward a sustainable energy solution, a long-term goal of the village.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, characterized the Igiugig project as a significant testing ground of a marine power device that she said “could well be utilized in dozens of river villages statewide to reduce the high cost of power."
"This truly could be the path to bringing affordable electricity to many rural villages, if the efficiencies and the durability being pioneered in Igiugig can be replicated statewide," she said.
Last November, ORPC received a $2.25 million grant from the U.S. DOE to develop ways to lower the costs of deploying, retrieving and anchoring its tidal and river power turbines, making them more commercially competitive. ORPC’s grant was one of 41 awards totaling $125 million to pursue novel approaches to energy innovation while combating climate change and moving toward a low-carbon economy.
ORPC is the only company to have built, operated and delivered power to a utility grid from a tidal-power generator and to a local microgrid from a river-power generator.
Before its successful deployment of its river-power generator in the Alaska, ORPC’s prototype TidGen tidal-power generator made North American history in September 2012 when it transmitted electricity from Cobscook Bay near Eastport to a commercial grid for the first time. That generator has since been pulled from the water for further research and development to improve its design and capabilities.
The company’s subsidiary, ORPC Solutions, is currently providing strategic expertise and support to other river and ocean energy projects in Quebec and Ireland.
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