Two researchers from the University of Alaska landed in Eagle, a village in northeast Alaska near the Canada-US border, unloaded their research instruments and perked their heads up in search of Andy Bassich, who moved there over 40 years ago after falling in love with the land. Bassich picked them up, snowmachining them 14 miles along the Yukon River to his homestead. In mid-February, the frozen river they drove by appeared still and foreboding — large chunks of jumble ice jutting out from its surface, but underneath the ice, the water flowed.
Stephanie Fisher and Leo Azizi from the Alaska Center for Energy and Power were there to measure the under-ice flow rate, the first step in determining whether Bassich could use this seemingly frozen river to generate electricity. Through-ice measurements like the ones Fisher, Azizi, and Bassich conducted in Eagle, are revolutionary in the river turbine space. The only river turbine that is currently supplying power to a whole community in Alaska is in the Kvichak River at Igiugig, made by Ocean Renewable Power Company.
There is a lot of interest around the state for smaller turbines that could power homesteads. Presently, the research focus has been during the open water season, with the idea that these turbines would only run in the summer and be pulled out before freeze-up. If the data from the frozen Yukon indicated that a winter river turbine might work, it would be a ground-breaking — or an ice-breaking — discovery for rura.