Description
ORPC’s RivGen® Power System generates electricity from river currents and connects directly into existing community grids using smart grid technology. The RivGen device is a horizontal cross-flow hydrokinetic turbine that consists of a proprietary Turbine Generator Unit (TGU) mounted on a chassis. A completed power system includes the device (or multiple devices), mooring system, transmission and data cables to shore, and an onshore station that houses system electronics.
The Igiugig Hydrokinetic Project consists of two ORPC RivGen Power Systems that are connected to the Igiugig Village grid infrastructure. The first grid connected RivGen Power System was installed in 2019 and the second power system was installed in 2023.
Location
Kvichak River, Igiugig, Alaska, U.S. at ~5 m water depth.
Approximately 2 km downstream of Iliamna Lake.
Licensing Information
IVC filed its final pilot license application with FERC on November 15, 2018. IVC’s 10-year Pilot Project License was issued on May 23, 2019.
Project Progress
Since 2013, ORPC has partnered with the Igiugig Village Council (IVC), Alaska, to lower energy costs by utilizing renewable energy generated by the Kvichak River. In 2014, ORPC successfully built, deployed, and operated a first generation of its RivGen Power System and delivered electricity to Igiugig’s diesel microgrid. In 2015, ORPC re-installed and operated the RivGen system in Igiugig for two months to demonstrate technology advancements and, in the process, reduced the community's diesel fuel use by one-third when the system was operating.
In late 2018, IVC filed a pilot license application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with the proposal to install and operate two grid connected RivGen Power Systems in the Kvichak River. IVC received its 10-year FERC Pilot License on May 23, 2019 and IVC was the first tribal entity in the U.S. to achieve this approval. The first grid connected RivGen Power System was installed in 2019. Continued operation at this site since 2019 makes this project the longest operating hydrokinetic project in the Americas.
Key Environmental Issues
The Kvichak River is home to one of the world’s largest sockeye salmon populations. Igiugig Village heavily relies on this resource for subsistence and livelihood. Because of the importance of the local salmon population, a robust Fish Monitoring Plan was incorporated into the Igiugig Hydrokinetic Project FERC License. Part of the Fish Monitoring Plan incorporates the use of video monitoring during priority salmon adult and smolt (juvenile salmon) migration periods as the Kvichak River is a shallow and very clear environment where video monitoring can be completed. As part of this monitoring effort, IVC and ORPC work with an Adaptive Management Team (AMT) made up of regulators and resource managers from federal and Alaska state agencies as well as technical resource experts from universities and national labs. The AMT is the mechanism for discussing monitoring requirements based on data collected and findings, and for decision-making, including any changes to the monitoring approach. After undertaking monitoring for several years with no documented collisions and no evidence of RivGen device impact to adult sockeye salmon, the adult salmon monitoring requirement was removed from the Fish Monitoring effort in 2022 per consultation with the AMT and in accordance with the annual Alaska Department of Fish and Game Fish Habitat Permit issued for 2022/2023 (ADF&G 2022). The risk of Project impact to adult salmon has been retired, however, IVC, ORPC, and the AMT continue to monitor and assess project operations during the smolt out-migration period.
In accordance with project licensing consultation and FERC’s Issued Environmental Assessment (2019), there are no threatened or endangered species, critical habitat, or essential fish habitat in the Project area and the Project does not impact marine mammals or historic properties.
Papers, Reports, Research Studies
- ORPC Environmental Monitoring
- Resource Reconnaissance & Physical Characterization (TerraSond Limited 2011)
- Flow measurements during RivGen deployment (Thomson et al. 2014)
- Data Analysis for Monitoring of the RivGen® System in the Kvichak River (LGL 2015)
- Triton: Iguigig Fish Video Analysis Project Report (PNNL 2017)
- Igiugig Hydrokinetic Project, Appendix A-D (ORPC 2018)
- Environmental Assessment for Hydropower License (FERC 2019)
- Wake measurements from a hydrokinetic river turbine (Guerra and Thomson 2019)
- 2021 Fish Monitoring Report (IVC 2022)
Baseline Assessment: Igiugig RivGen® Power System
Receptor | Study Description | Design and Methods | Results | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
Physical Environment | Site characterization and hydrographic survey - TerraSond Limited (Kvichak River RISEC Project) | Site characterization, multibeam hydrographic survey, acoustic doppler current profiling, etc. | Baseline site and hydrographic characteristics obtained. | Completed (2011) |
Post-Installation Monitoring: Igiugig RivGen® Power System
Stressor | Receptor | Study Description | Design and Methods | Results | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Changes in Flow | Ecosystem Processes | RivGen® effect on surrounding hydrodynamics – University of Washington | Measured flow conditions around device prior to and after deployment (2015). | Persistent turbine wake observed, with no recovery downstream of the device. Similar operational and non-operational wakes. River energy loss in wake comparable to energy delivered to grid. | Completed (2015) |
Collision | Fish | Impact of RivGen® on fish (collision/strike) – LGL Alaska Research Associated, Inc. | Monitored video footage from 5 cameras placed on one side of the device (2015). | Did not detect any obvious physical injuries to fish, and saw no altered behavior by wildlife near the RivGen®device. | Completed (2015) |
Collision | Fish | Impact of RivGen® on fish (collision/strike) | University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) completed real time video monitoring during the 2021 smolt outmigration period. The UAF team was able to quantify the number of salmon that interact with the RivGen and assess the behaviors/outcomes of those interactions. | Discovered that (1) The majority of smolt outmigrate over the course of a short 5-day time period. (2) The majority of smolt outmigrate during hours of complete darkness (00:00 – 04:00). (3) Smolt were observed passing through or near the RivGen device in both normal and disoriented manners, with the rotational status/speed of the RivGen appearing to influence passage behavior. (4) No adult salmon were observed near the RivGen. | Completed (2022) |
Changes in Flow | Ecosystem Processes | RivGen® effect on surrounding hydrodynamics – University of Washington | Measured spatial and temporal variability of inflow velocities after deployment (2014). | Significant reduction in mean flow, from 2 to 1 m/s, observed. Increase in turbulence intensity not observed. | Completed (2014) |