A 132-ton turbine has been lying on a Canadian riverbed since the only factory meant to build 39 more went bankrupt, and the man who put it there is asking to drop nine on the same spot and hundreds across North America
A 132-ton hydrokinetic turbine has remained on the floor of the St. Lawrence River near Montreal’s Old Port for over a decade. Installed in 2010 by a company that eventually went bankrupt, the machine was officially ordered removed by the Quebec government in 2016. It never moved, and it remains there today as a reminder of the challenges facing river-current energy projects.
Now, a new entity named ARECOR Énergie aims to install nine additional turbines on that exact riverbed. The project CEO is the same person who led the firm responsible for the original, abandoned machine. While ARECOR has secured a power purchase agreement with Hydro-Québec, the project lacks the necessary environmental permits. Federal reviews under the Fisheries Act and the Species at Risk Act have been ongoing since March 2025 with no clear timeline for approval.
Market economics present another hurdle. Hydro-Québec documentation indicates that the cost of river-current power remains significantly higher than tidal or ocean-based alternatives. Despite these high costs and a history of stalled infrastructure, ARECOR claims it plans to deploy hundreds of units across North America to support artificial intelligence data centers. The city of Montreal has expressed hesitation, noting the lack of clarity regarding the impact and necessity of the proposed hardware.
Simultaneously, another company, Ocean Renewable Power Company, is working to install two smaller units in the same river. That project has federal backing and uses a different technology design. As these proposals move forward, the original 2010 turbine sits underwater, highlighting the gap between energy ambitions and the reality of long-term infrastructure maintenance. Until federal regulators complete their environmental assessments, the riverbed remains unchanged.