Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) and Resolute Marine Energy (RME) announce that ORPC Solutions, ORPC’s wholly-owned services subsidiary, will be providing project management and regulatory affairs services to RME’s Yakutat Wave Energy Project in Yakutat, Alaska.

Located on the Gulf of Alaska 200 miles northwest of Juneau, Yakutat is a remote community of 650 inhabitants that is 100 percent dependent upon diesel generators to power its homes and businesses. The only way to get diesel fuel to Yakutat is to ship it by barge from Washington state, over 1,000 miles away, which has driven the price of fuel up to $5 to $8 per gallon and which is threatening the economic and social viability of the community. But Yakutat, like so many other remote communities, is blessed with a huge and untapped renewable energy resource — wave energy. And Yakutat has one of the strongest wave resources in the world.

Beginning in 2015, RME plans to help Yakutat reduce its reliance on diesel fuel by installing its SurgeWECTM wave energy convertors at an ocean site a short transmission distance from the existing Yakutat Power municipal power grid. RME has obtained a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission preliminary permit for the site and is now working with a wide range of regulatory agencies to obtain data that will be included in a formal license application to the commission. ORPC Solutions will assist RME by providing project management and regulatory affairs services utilizing personnel from ORPC’s Anchorage, Alaska and Portland, Maine offices.

The Yakutat Wave Energy Project is a collaborative effort of RME, ORPC, the City and Borough of Yakutat, the Alaska Energy Authority, Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and many other state and federal agencies.

“I’m very pleased to see the progress that’s being made on the Yakutat Wave Energy Project and we’re very excited that ORPC is now a part of the team,” said Scott Newlun, General Manager of the City and Borough of Yakutat Power Company. “I strongly believe that ocean energy will eventually become a large part of the world’s renewable energy mix, and we’re hopeful that Yakutat will be the site of the first commercial wave energy project in the United States.”

“ORPC’s demonstrated success in permitting marine hydrokinetic projects and the company’s strong relationships with regulatory agencies will be of great benefit as we move from preliminary to final permit status and start deploying our wave energy converters in 2015,” said RME Co-Founder and CEO, Bill Staby.

“We share RME’s commitment to help remote communities address their challenging energy needs,” said Chris Sauer, ORPC President and CEO, “and we’re pleased to help RME make its Yakutat Wave Energy Project a reality.”

Press Release, November 05, 2013