Mapping Tidal and River Energy Potential in Remote Alaska
Summer and fall of 2025 marked one of ORPC’s busiest field seasons. A major part of that work was centered on the powerful rivers and tides of Alaska. Over 17 weeks, seven staff crisscrossed the state’s coastline and interior on 12 separate trips to measure the flow of nine river and tidal sites.
The studies were part of a project with Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (AVEC), funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, to assess the potential to generate marine energy for neighboring communities.
In 2024, ORPC began evaluating the feasibility of river and tidal power to decrease diesel fuel dependency in 59 Alaskan micro-grid communities—nearly all of which are only accessible by airplane or seasonal marine vessel. From these early assessments, nine locations were selected for further evaluation.
This summer, supported by local contractors and the communities in which they worked, our team measured the bathymetry and velocity of the selected sites’ resources. The fieldwork followed extensive community engagement, where project coordinators hosted town halls to explain the step-by-step process of site selection and deployment, answer questions, and gather feedback.
The season wrapped up with a final trip to retrieve an installed measurement device in a community with tidal energy potential at the end of September, and the team has now started analyzing the collected data. Those flow measurements, paired with considerations like interconnection requirements, infrastructure, permitting, supply chain, and workforce and deployment logistics, will help to further refine recommendations for which river and tidal sites have the potential to power Alaska’s off-grid communities.