创新的道路可能是一条漫长而蜿蜒的道路，但可能很难与缅因州波特兰市的海洋可再生能源公司及其及其Rivgen潜水发电系统的海洋可再生能源有限公司相抗衡，该系统设计用于安装riverbeds and is based upon the company’s tide-driven units for maritime locations.
4月17日ORPC主持商业产品unch of the RivGen power system in Brunswick, Maine, to mark the impending delivery—for the third time since 2014—of a version of the system to a remote river community in Alaska. Except this time, rather than a test unit, a full-scale, submersible system is scheduled to be installed in the Kvichak River in June as a 35-kW power source for Igiugig, a village with a population of 80 located about 240 miles southwest of Anchorage.
The project is funded by a $2.3-million U.S. Dept. of Energy grant for development of hydrokinetic power units to help isolated communities like Igiugig wean themselves from diesel-powered generators. Diesel fuel is costly for such communities and is often difficult to supply.
没有道路服务，igiugig特别孤立。该系统的组件必须通过卡车和驳船多次进行操作才能到达现场。
“It’s a great test case, because it’s exceptionally complicated,” says Monty Worthington, ORPC’s director of project development. “[If] we can get it there …we should be able to get most places, is what it comes down to.”
The RivGen system is built around the company’s patented submersible generator unit, which is driven by a pair of horizontally-oriented cross-flow turbines on a single driveshaft mounted on a pair of cross-braced pontoons. The power is transmitted by underwater cable to a shore side distribution system.
51.5英尺长的46.9英尺宽的底盘（Crib）设计为漂浮在适当的位置，被固定在上游末端的锚固电缆束缚，然后被泛座泛滥而淹没。当地可用的船只和承包商可以通过永久安装的脐带和“自我部署，自我退休”系统将空气泵回浮桥，可以扭转检索和年度维护的过程。
完整的组件高11.5英尺，重32.5吨。总涡轮捕获面积为194平方英尺，其设计为每秒3.5米的最大操作水速度。该速度的额定功率输出为80 kW，但预计该安装将在2.25 m/sec的正常流速中产生35至40 kW。
从历史上看，这条河在系统将被部署的地区不含冰，尽管沃辛顿说湖泊立即上游确实冻结了并在春季融化期间释放了冰，但即使那样，预计破冰也足够薄预计不会影响淹没的机器。
ORPC首席执行官克里斯·索尔（Chris Sauer）表示：“在整个北美，有数百个社区依靠柴油100％。向偏远地区交付成本的挑战，但这些社区中的大多数都坐在非常好的河流或潮汐资源上。”
Worthington says the last stage of delivery involves assembling the device in a lake upstream for about 10 days of testing of the deployment and retrieval system and other components before towing it to its final installation site.
汤姆·索耶（Tom Sawyer）和约翰娜（Johanna Knapschaefer）
