American Tidal Energy Project

A historic project aiming to harness the power of Cook Inlet tides to generate clean, predictable, renewable energy for the Kenai Peninsula.

Project Overview

The American Tidal Energy Project’s (ATEP) objective is to develop an Alaska-based 1 megawatt (MW) to 5 MW tidal site that integrates the best available tidal energy technologies to provide power to the grid and alternative end users. We aim to involve the Kenai Peninsula community and local environmental stakeholders in the vision for and implementation of a commercial tidal energy project. Initial stages of ATEP are funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office. ORPC is functioning as a project developer and a potential technology provider.

Cook Inlet Potential

Tidal power in Cook Inlet can provide more than 100% of energy needs in the South Central Alaska region. The tidal energy resource potential of Cook Inlet is estimated to be 80 terawatt hours per year (TWh/yr)—this is more than 15 times the present-day electricity consumption of the Alaska Railbelt grid running 700 miles from Fairbanks to Homer.
East Foreland is considered the premier tidal energy development site in the United States.
Measured water velocity at East Foreland can reach up to 4 meters per second—that’s approximately 9 miles per hour.
Tidal energy can play an important role in decarbonizing Alaska’s Railbelt grid with clean, predictable energy.

AMERICAN TIDAL ENERGY PROJECT

Project Schedule

ORPC is in the initial stages of project assessment and development. We will post a project schedule shortly.

Connect with ATEP at a local event

Check our Events section for more information about past and upcoming events and webinars. Please contact [email protected] if you would like ORPC to present on the American Tidal Energy Project at a local event.

Proposed Project Layout

ORPC is in the initial stages of project assessment and development. Project layout proposal will be included at a later point in project development showing where test turbines would be located, cables would run, the shore station would be located, etc.

Project Technologies

ORPC has selected two tidal energy technologies for further development in the project: the Proteus AR Series and the TidGen Power System.

Learn more about each technology on our Media page.

Regulatory and Environmental Process

The ATEP team provides leadership in the permitting and licensing process by working with subject matter experts, national laboratories and universities, and state and federal regulators to understand the potential interactions of a marine energy project with the marine environment.

As project lead, ORPC has developed and implemented an adaptive management approach for past projects designed to monitor and mitigate project risk. We place strong emphasis on early and consistent resource agency consultation and minimizing effects to the marine environment through the design of our power systems and careful siting of projects.

Adaptive Management Fact Sheet

Licensing and permitting requirements for the project are anticipated to include:

ORPC will work with resource agencies and local stakeholders to complete detailed consultations for endangered species, historic resources, and many more consultations that are part of the FERC licensing process.

FERC Licensing

ORPC holds a FERC preliminary permit (P-15116) for development of the East Foreland Tidal Energy Project at the East Foreland site. ORPC applied for a FERC preliminary permit on April 29, 2021, and it was issued by FERC on July 26, 2021. A FERC preliminary permit does not allow ORPC the ability to construct anything at the site, but rather grants ORPC the ability to study the site without competition as well as maintain priority to file a license application with FERC.

The ATEP project assists with funding the initial development of a broader East Foreland tidal energy initiative. ORPC will maintain the name East Foreland Tidal Energy Project under project licensing and permitting documentation.

The following area outlined within our FERC preliminary permit is being assessed by ORPC for development of the project.