Maine Firm Is Set to Deploy Second Tidal River Power System in Alaska

Second RivGen tidal river power system is being fabricated for Ocean Renewable Power Co. of Maine for deployment in Alaska's Kvichak River. The firm's first system has been generating electricity since 2019. Photo: Downeast Machine and Engineering

Fabricators have completed work on the pontoons and chassis for a second tidal river power system, called RivGen, for Ocean Renewable Power Co. of Maine. Its first system has been generating electricity since October 2019 in the Kvichak River in Igiugig, Alaska, about 240 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Company chief engineer Ryan Tyler says lessons learned during the building and installation of the first RivGen device were applied when his team worked with vendors to improve quality while reducing fabrication complexity and cost of the second RivGen unit.

“We implemented small design changes to improve field operations and make on-water installation easier, and we made modifications to the turbines and structural assembly to increase durability and mitigate against the accumulation of ice during mid-winter operations,” he says.

Although the team was generally pleased with the system performance during 2019/2020 winter icing events, members modified its design to reduce ice accumulation and to improve its response when it occurred, he says. They also modified how the system operates to improve its icing tolerance.

The second RivGen now in the final stages of fabrication in Leeds, Maine, will be shipped to the company facility in Brunswick, Maine, according to the firm. Following system assembly, it will be verified, then disassembled, packaged, and shipped to Igiugig before commercial deployment, which is planned for summer.

Ocean Renewable Power is advancing on three projects in Alaska, in addition to two in Chile and another two in Canada, it says,

Funding to the Iguigug Village Council from the US Dept. of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy totaling $1.5 million provides a 50/50 match for the $3.1 million project currently in progress to build the second RivGen device and acquire smart microgrid electronics and energy storage

Johanna Knapschaefer, ENR’s New England Special Correspondent, has been writing about trends in design and construction of buildings, bridges, tunnels and other infrastructure for more than a decade. She also profiles award-winning industry leaders and delves into broader construction issues such as workforce training, worker safety and health, climate change remediation and emerging offshore wind and tidal energy developments. Over the past two decades, her articles have appeared in Architectural Record, BusinessWeek, the Boston Globe, American Banker, Modern Metals, BusinessNH Magazine, Pittsburgh Magazine and many other publications. Johanna is fluent in Japanese, and taught English and academic writing in the Science and Engineering Department of Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, while living in Japan for eight years.

When not writing, Johanna enjoys mountain climbing, singing and playing her Spanish guitar.

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