Submersible and Floating Hydroelectric Technology for the Rivers Flowing into the Great Lakes

     Stephen Starr of The Guardian just published an interesting article about new hydroelectric technologies being deployed in the Great Lakes region, mostly in Canada. The Great Lakes host big cities in the U.S. and Canada, including Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Milwaukee, and Detroit. These populated cities are experiencing growing power demands as well as demands for clean energy and less air pollution. The Great Lakes are freshwater lakes with no tidal power, but they do have reliably flowing rivers that connect them. Company Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC), which has long operated small submersible hydroelectric power generators in Alaska and Maine, has recently been developing two hydroelectric power generators on the St. Lawrence River in Montreal.

“The St Lawrence River is one of the best opportunities in North America for our technology because it has consistent, high-velocity water for hundreds of miles. In the Montreal area, there’s 60-90 megawatts of resource potential alone,” says ORPC’s chief executive officer, Stuart Davies.

“The Niagara River, the St Lawrence River are big powerful rivers driven by the hydrology of the lakes draining out.”

     It should be pointed out that ORPC’s devices are small-scale, from 0.5MW to 5 MW in size, hardly a replacement for a gas or coal plant, but they do provide similar baseload power.

     ORPC has been producing hydropower in Alaska since 2019, providing power for a small community and reducing their diesel fuel requirements and costs.

      Another company, Orbital Marine Power, which has developed tidal power offshore Scotland, is developing a hydropower project in the Bay of Fundy’s Minas Passage in Nova Scotia. They also plan to develop a project later this year on the Niagara River in Buffalo, New York.

     The Guardian article notes that Canada has a better and faster regulatory environment for licensing hydroelectric power than the U.S., where it can take eight years or more to license a project. Canadian citizens also benefit from low-cost, low-emissions hydropower.

     While the St. Lawrence and Niagara rivers are fast-moving, other rivers connecting the Great Lakes are slower-moving, with currents of 2.3 to 2.5 knots. Michael Bernitsas, a professor at the University of Michigan, has tested a hydroelectricity-generating technology called Vivace that can harness hydro energy from water that moves as slowly as half a meter per second. One area targeted for testing this technology in the future is where Lake Huron flows into the St. Clair River, about 50 miles north of Detroit.

“As water moves, it pushes cylinders which oscillate up and down on the device, generating kinetic energy. Bernitsas says the devices can be manufactured in sizes starting from under a meter in width and height to a scale suitable for larger projects.”

“The immediate market for our small technology would be portable applications in situ in the ocean, for example powering Noaa buoys,” he says.

     He estimates that it will take another two years before the technology is deployable. These technologies can also be deployed in oceans to tap tides, but saltwater is much more corrosive, and river water deployments can last much longer. Michael Bernitsas, a professor at the University of Michigan, has tested a hydroelectricity-generating technology called Vivace that can harness hydro energy from water that moves as slowly as half a meter per second.

     ORPC is also exploring anchoring to riverbed bottoms as has been done in Northern European tidal power projects, in order to eliminate problems due to surface ice in the winter. The company is also planning a project on the lower Mississippi River, potentially between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, for late next year.

     ORPC also notes that its projects are fish-safe, not resulting in killing and maiming fish as has been a problem at larger hydroelectric dams.

          Compared to wind and solar in the U.S., hydro is poised for further development since it retains its 40-50% tax credit. That will likely result in more of these types of hydro projects being developed.

 

References:

 

Demand for hydropower surges as Trump clamps down on clean energy: Home to one of the world’s largest deposits of freshwater, the Great Lakes region will soon host next-generation generators – just as prices are being hiked across the US. Stephen Starr. The Guardian. March 31, 2026. Demand for hydropower surges as Trump clamps down on clean energy | US news | The Guardian

RivGen® Power System & Integrated Microgrid Solutions. Ocean Renewable Power Company (ORPC). RivGen® Power System & Integrated Microgrid Solutions - ORPC

Orbital Marine Power. Technology - Orbital Marine

Vortex Hydro Energy. How it Works | Vortex Hydro Energy