ORPC announces management changes

Courtesy / Ocean Renewable Power Co. From left, Chris Sauer, co-founder and CEO of Ocean Renewable Power Co., is joined by John Ferland, newly promoted to president and COO, Abbey Manders remains as vice president of finance and administration and Jarlath McEntee as vice president of engineering and chief technology officer.

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By Staff

Ocean Renewable Power Co., a Portland-based global leader in hydrokinetic power systems and project solutions, announced Tuesday that it is instituting a new management approach to advance company growth and capitalize on new opportunities.

Effective immediately, Chris Sauer is transitioning from president and CEO to co-founder and CEO, and John Ferland is being promoted to president and COO.

In a written statement announcing the management changes, Sauer said Ferland, who has been with ORPC since 2008, is ready to take on the new duties.

“The responsibilities of day-to-day company management and the requirements of securing new investment and developing essential strategic partnerships are very large and critical undertakings for one person to manage effectively and efficiently,” Sauer said in a release. “We are very lucky to have such a qualified and quality leader as John Ferland on our team to step up and move us forward seamlessly steering ORPC operations.”

Currently ORPC has ongoing, funded projects totaling $16 million. It also is actively pursuing opportunities in high-cost power markets, notably in Québec, where forming essential partnerships is the key to success.

“Our future growth and, ultimately, our profitability depends on excellence in execution,” Sauer said.

New additions to management team

Underscoring the company’s growth, which includes a $3.2-million Euro technology development project in Ireland and the RivGen Power System energy project in the remote Alaskan village of Igiugig, ORPC also announced that Nate Hayes and Matt Wilson have joined its engineering team.

ORPC Ireland now employs two full-time and one part-time staff and James Donegan has been promoted to lead electrical engineer and director of European operations. Abbey Manders remains as vice president of finance and administration and Jarlath McEntee as vice president of engineering and chief technology officer.

ORPC now has 22 employees working in three countries and on two continents.

In addition to company headquarters in Portland, an operations center in Eastport and a project office in Anchorage, Alaska, wholly-owned subsidiaries of ORPC are located in Montreal (Énergies Marines Renouvelables Québécoises, or EMARQ) and Dublin (ORPC Ireland).

Worldwide, ORPC is the only company to have built, operated and delivered power to a utility grid from a hydrokinetic tidal project in Eastport, and to a remote community grid from a hydrokinetic river project in Alaska.