TidGen scores DNV GL feasibility statement

Certification body DNV GL has issued a statement of feasibility for technology qualification for ORPC’s second-generation TidGen power system.

Based on DNVGL-SE-0163, the statement of feasibility represents the first critical step in an extensive process of verification that confirms the TidGen Power System meets the highest international acceptance standards.

ORPC plans to build and install the first production unit of its new TidGen system in Cobscook Bay, Maine, in late 2020, the company informed.

TidGen power system, developed by the US-based company Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC), consists of three major subsystems – shore-side power electronics, mooring system, and turbine generator unit (TGU) device.

Claudio Bittencourt Ferreira, Business Development Director at DNV GL Renewables Certification–London, said: “The DNV GL certification process for tidal turbines and arrays aims to provide a robust approach to technology development, taking into account safety and environmental aspects, but also the very important requirements for commercial success.

“Achieving the Statement of Feasibility under DNVGL-SE-0163 is an important milestone that allows ORPC to identify the necessary steps to demonstrably control the risks to success and further develop the technology.”

Currently, ORPC is executing power system installation projects in Maine, Alaska and Canada totaling over $16 million.

The company is actively pursuing exciting new market opportunities that will provide environmentally sustainable energy solutions to remote communities in high cost power markets, notably in northern Quebec, where energy powered by diesel costs more than 12 times that from the Quebec grid.

Underscoring ORPC’s growth spurred by these new opportunities, Melozi Scott has been hired as Ocean Engineer, Kerry Strout Grantham as Development Services Manager and Kim Barden as Administrative Assistant at ORPC headquarters in Portland, Maine.

Guillaume Marquaille has also been hired as Project Manager at EMARQ, ORPC’s Canadian subsidiary based in Montreal.

In 2012, ORPC built and operated its TidGen power system in Cobscook Bay in Eastport and Lubec, Maine. It was the first revenue-generating, grid-connected tidal energy project in North America, and the first ocean energy project to deliver power to a utility grid anywhere in the Americas, according to ORPC.