Ocean Renewable Power Company

[5] The genesis of ORPC began in 2004, when a cruise ship industry executive, Paul Wells, queried whether there was a way to generate electricity from ocean currents like the Gulf Stream.

[4][5] In 2007, with input from the U.S. Navy, ORPC launched a 46 ft long, horizontal cross-flow turbine prototype in Cobscook Bay, Maine, which proved technically feasible.

They determined that the economic benefits that would accrue to the state would be a factor of 1.8, meaning more money would be returned to the Maine economy through jobs and taxes than was being invested in the higher rate paid.

[7] Maine's state senate president, Kevin Raye, described the deal as a major milestone "in the 80-year effort to commercially harness the vast power of the tides”.

The unit was installed on the ocean floor at the company's Federal Energy Regulatory Commission-licensed[9] Cobscook Bay project site, in Eastport and Lubec, Maine.

Said Jose Zayas, director of the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office at the Department of Energy, "These first pioneering projects are complicated (and) really breaking new ground.

ORPC was the first marine renewable company to receive the Outstanding Stewards of America's Waters Award for Operational Excellence from the National Hydropower Association in 2016.

[30] An updated RivGen Power System was re-installed and operated in Igiugig in 2015 to demonstrate its latest technology advancements and provided one-third of the community’s electricity needs, significantly offsetting their diesel fuel use.