Flooding Delays 2020 Hydrokinetic Fieldwork

Preparations for 2020 fieldwork at the Tanana River Test Site began in June. The TRTS is a permitted stretch of the Tanana River in Nenana, Alaska. These preparations included retrieval of the anchor line and deployment of the main buoy, the Research Debris Diverter Platform, the test barge and the inclined plane fish trap.

This setup is ultimately for the first testing of the Water Horse hydrokinetic harvester project. This was scheduled to begin on June 22 but was delayed until mid-July by flood level conditions and debris brought on by heavy rains in the Tanana Valley.

The Water Horse will produce energy from turbulent water conditions in river environments, like the Tanana River. A prototype device has been fabricated in Fairbanks and tested in laboratory environments. Field demonstration activities are scheduled for June and July in 2020 and 2021.

This research is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Water Power Technologies Office.

For more information, please contact Ben Loeffler at bhloeffler@alaska.edu.

 

Deploying the Research Debris Diverter Platform at the Tanana River Test Site. Photo courtesy of Ben Loeffler.