ORPC is pleased to announce it has concluded its
highly successful OCGen®
Module Mooring Project at its federally licensed Cobscook Bay,
Maine project site. This first-of-its-kind project, funded partially by the U.S. Dept. of Energy
and Maine Technology Institute, proved the stability of the prototype OCGen® device in
reversing tidal currents and confirmed the loading and performance of its innovative
tensioned mooring system.
Power generation equipment that can be located at a prescribed depth, such as the
OCGen®
device, has the potential to access the more energy dense current resources typically
found in the upper portions of the water column. The prototype OCGen® device consisted of a
buoyancy pod attached to a chassis with two turbines placed in the water column 35 feet
below mean low water. The objective of the project was to determine the stability of the
OCGen® device under various loading and current conditions and the effectiveness of the
tensioned mooring system. Data collected was well within expected ranges and proved the
design concept of ORPC’s OCGen® Power System.
"We believe the prototype OCGen ® device is the first installation anywhere of a floating
hydrokinetic device held at a fixedlocation in the water column using a tensioned mooring
and anchoring system," said ORPC President & CEO Chris Sauer. "The lessons learned are a
significant step forward in ORPC's development of a full-scale OCGen ® Power System that will
reduce the cost and footprint of tidal energy systems while enhancing performance. We are
indebted to the Town of Lubec and City of Eastport, our local contractors, and our Mainebased project team for making this project such a success."
"The continued technologicaladvances performed by ORPCin Maine will have a long
lastingbenefit on the local economy anddevelopment of the global renewable energy
market," commented Paul Williamson, Director of the Maine Ocean & Wind Industry Initiative.
"We are fortunate to have a company that shows such leadership in innovation in our state.
We need to continue to do all we can to support their work."
"We are happy that ORPC's success with the OCGen ® Project will be shared at the
International Conference on Ocean Energy in Halifax, Nova Scotia next week," noted Chris Campbell, Executive Director ofMarine Renewables Canada. "The OCGen ® Project
aligns with project developments in Nova Scotia to make New England and the Maritimes a nucleus in the
worldwide development of tidal energy."
- Collection of significant dataunder various operating conditions of the OCGen ® device over a three-month period, including device movement (pitch, yaw and roll), tidal current speed and direction, turbine rotational speed, and loading on the mooring lines
- Important contributionsto the understanding of marine hydrokinetic mooring system dynamics that will help to validate and improve computational models.
- Monitoring of fisheries interactions with the device, funded by a separate Energy Department grant, which was conducted by the University of Maine and is contributing to the growing knowledge base of aquatic interactions with ORPC’s power systems
- Scour monitoring of the mooring anchors that indicated minimal changes in vertical evation of the seabed as well as horizontal movement of the anchors themselves
