Wave wrangler | Chris Sauer, president and CEO, Ocean Renewable Power Co., Portland
Photo/Tim Greenway
Chris Sauer, president and CEO of Ocean Renewable Power Co., along Portland's waterfront
Chris Sauer is all about energy. His company, Ocean Renewable Power Co., is a leader in the field of tidal energy development, with a prototype turbine off the coast of Eastport that’s on the verge of linking to the electricity grid. The company itself is gaining momentum, having competed for and won nearly $17 million in state and federal funding since 2009. Even Sauer’s head of white hair seems infused with kineticism.
Sounding distant on a phone call from Eastport, where the composite blades of ORPC’s 60-kilowatt generator — the largest of its kind ever installed in U.S. waters — turn below the surface of Cobscook Bay, Sauer enthuses about the commercial-scale prototype. “We absolutely nailed it. The performance is exactly on the design curve,” he says. “We’re pretty happy about it, and relieved, to be honest.”
ORPC officials are using the data from the unit’s performance test to fine-tune the design of its 150-kilowatt TidGen Power System, which they expect to install off Eastport in a year. The system will be connected to the New England grid through Bangor Hydro Electric Co.’s network by the end of 2011 and produce enough electricity for 50 to 75 homes. It’s likely to be the first grid-connected tidal energy project in the United States, Sauer says.
Much of the project’s future depends on the regulatory process. Regulators from Alaska, Florida, Washington, D.C., and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gathered in Eastport earlier this month to witness ORPC’s work and discuss federal licensing procedures for hydro energy projects. “Maine right now has the opportunity, certainly, to be the leader in the U.S. in tidal energy,” Sauer says. The Alaskans were downright envious of Maine’s support for tidal energy development, including the Maine Technology Institute’s funding and encouragement, he adds. “We are in the lead in the U.S. We are recognized around the world.”
A devoted woodworker who gave up semi-retirement in 2004 to pursue what was then just the idea of ORPC, Sauer was excited to report that the company will employ 24 full-time workers by the end of October, including six hired recently in Washington County, up from 13 last year.
More jobs will come in the form of the Maine Marine Energy Center, a proposed manufacturing center for ocean energy system components that’s expected to employ 75 and leverage $23 million in private investment. The city of Eastport and the county in September won $1.4 million from the Department of Commerce to establish the center and rehabilitate the 60,000-square-foot Eastport Business Center. ORPC, an “interested party” and the planned anchor customer for the center, is now seeking one or more high-end composites manufacturers to operate it.
Eventually, the center could also produce components for that other alternative energy source that tends to get all the attention in Maine — offshore wind. Sauer sees his company’s successes and failures as part of the wider effort to channel much of the world’s energy from the depths of the ocean.
As his startup continues to ride a wave of success, Sauer, whose career history also includes ventures in energy-efficient lighting and mercury removal methods, is keeping an eye on maintaining its creative culture. “We’re, as a company, growing rapidly and managing that growth, I probably worry about that more than anything else right now,” Sauer says. He’s also tracking down $15 million to $20 million in private capital to match ORPC’s government funding and focusing on supply-chain issues like finding support vessels that are capable of installing the company’s tidal energy systems. Not to mention manufacturers to make the actual units. “We’re not going to be building one turbine a year,” he says. “We’re going to be building a lot of turbines.”
Jackie Farwell
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