Igiugig Village Council – 2019 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

Igiugig Village Council (IVC) will install two 35-kilowatt (kW) marine renewable energy devices in the Kvichak River at Igiugig, Alaska, and acquire smart microgrid electronics and energy storage to provide autonomous operation of the microgrid, which will power all Village facilities using the river’s current, displacing the high cost of diesel-generated power. Based on IVC’s existing generation at 12.14 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per gallon of diesel, the anticipated avoided cost of diesel generation from the two-device RivGen Power System is estimated at nearly $170,000 per year.

IVC is a federally recognized Tribe, as defined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, and serves as the tribal government that manages the village of Igiugig, an unincorporated community on the southwest tip of Iliamna Lake along the Kvichak River in Alaska. Igiugig has a year-round population of 69, comprised of 40% Alaska Natives—Yupik Eskimos, Aleuts, and Athabascan Indians.

Since 2009, IVC has demonstrated significant effort, long-term vision, and ongoing commitment to install marine renewable energy from the Kvichak River through more than 15 federal and state funding projects and studies.

IVC’s existing power system is fueled by costly diesel, which is delivered via air transportation or barge (in summer) and stored in bulk at a tank farm adjacent to the Village power plant. By providing a clean source of renewable electricity with an estimated annual output of 456 megawatt-hours, the installation of the two-device, 70-kW RivGen Power System will significantly and positively impact the existing energy resource by displacing diesel fuel, resulting in avoided generation costs of approximately $170,000 per year.

The Kvichak River, which flows directly past Igiugig, is one of Alaska’s prime river hydrokinetic resources, with an average current velocity of approximately 2.0 m/s at the project site, resulting in an energy density of 2.0 kW/m². IVC has project site control through a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) pilot project license issued on May 23, 2019.

In addition to serving 22 homes occupied by Igiugig’s 69 year-round residents, the project will serve the community’s school, library, computer lab, post office, general store, health clinic, airport, Russian Orthodox Church, Environmental Protection Agency office, and volunteer fire department; the Igiugig Powerhouse; the Dan Salmon Public Safety Building (Village Public Safety Office); and numerous hunting and fishing lodges located outside of the Village.

The project objectives are as follows:

1. Install and configure an array of two Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC) RivGen devices in the Kvichak River.
2. Complete engineering and purchase equipment for the smart microgrid configuration and system integration in Igiugig, to include control management system, energy storage and associated energy storage, and smart microgrid electronics.
3. Install all microgrid equipment and the control management system, and integrate the previously installed first RivGen device.
4. Validate performance and resilience of the microgrid through commissioning protocols, with both RivGen devices integrated, for multiple scenarios with both compromised and full functionality.
5. Finalize use and services agreements for the term of the 10-year FERC license granted in 2019. The contract(s) will define operations, maintenance, and technical support of the microgrid after project completion.
6. Conduct 12 consecutive months of operations with both RivGen devices operational, and complete in-service checks to verify performance achieves target techno-economic metrics.

IVC has authorized ORPC, Inc., the long-standing project partner, to lead the effort to install the second RivGen device and integrate it into an autonomous microgrid in Igiugig, capable of supplying the full baseload power for the Village without use of Igiugig’s diesel generators. The microgrid system architecture will incorporate the three diesel generators currently being used, maintaining the existing user interface and operating mode as a convenience to the Village’s current maintenance support.

The proposed smart microgrid will entail the addition of a second RivGen® device. This device will be integrated into the energy storage, smart microgrid electronics and controls, and anticipated diesel generator controller upgrades. All equipment and software will be selected based on commercial maturity and history of successful field operations. Based on previous studies conducted by the Alaska Center for Energy and Power, ORPC proposes using a grid management system and approximately 100 kWh of energy storage.

The project will be structured as a phased implementation, first validating the installation of microgrid improvements with the previously installed single device RivGen Power System through sustained operations. Once the second RivGen® device is installed and integrated into the microgrid, the complete system will be validated for performance and resilience over a 12-month operations period, with in-service checks performed to confirm the implementation has met all technical and economic requirements.

The technical scope of work will include tasks for power system studies, interconnection design, and final engineering for the microgrid electrical design. Telecommunication architecture for smart operation will also be included in this project, as well as Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system and automation design. The second RivGen device will include any upgrades or modifications assessed from operation of the first, single-device RivGen Power System, and it will be provided to IVC as part of a use and services agreement.

Igiugig Village is a small Village in southwestern Alaska, on the south bank of the mouth of the Kvichak River and Lake Iliamna. The Village is 48 miles southwest of Iliamna, Alaska, and 56 miles northeast of King Salmon, Alaska. In the Yup'ik language, Igiugig means "like a throat that swallows water"—a name clearly derived from the Village’s location right at the mouth where Lake Illiamna feeds the Kvichak River.

The project was competitively selected under the DOE Office of Indian Energy’s Fiscal Year 2018 funding opportunity announcement “Energy Infrastructure Deployment on Tribal Lands - 2019” (DE-FOA-0002032) and started in April 2020.

The project status reports provide more information.