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December 06, 2024
Eleven students from across Alaska came together for a transformative research experience, showcasing their work at the 2024 Alaska Renewable Energy Conference.
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Bringing my first solar PV project on-line for my grandfather
November 15, 2024
For decades, solar energy was discounted in Alaska. However, steep decline in solar photovoltaic prices and improved performance of batteries to store excess solar production has led to a mini-boom in recent solar PV deployments in Alaska. Ed Bifelt, founder of Alaska Native Renewable Industries, has been leading the charge for bringing the largest solar PV projects in the state to rural and remote microgrids. This is an excerpt from his chapter in the forthcoming University of Alaska Press book Alaska's Energy Innovators.
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To be the best utility: Reflections from former AVEC president and CEO, Meera Kohler
October 11, 2024
Providing reliable power service to rural Alaska faces many geographic and economic challenges unique to the far North, including: vulnerabilities to supply chain disruptions, the high cost of diesel fuel, and limited resources to name a few. AVEC, however, has been successful in addressing these challenges through innovative organizational solutions as well as the early adoption of new technologies. Many of these solutions were wrought by former AVEC president and CEO, Meera Kohler.
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September 26, 2024
Over his 11 years at ACEP, Chris consistently promoted renewable energy initiatives, always finding the right tool -- whether that was a strategic partnership, an international collaboration or a set of pyranometer wires. His transition to a new role with Renewable IPP marks the end of an era at ACEP.
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Powering up the nation's second largest island with 100% renewable energy
September 03, 2024
Kodiak Island is located 250 miles south of Anchorage and is the second-largest island in the United States. It is the first remote community in Alaska to be powered by almost 100% renewable energy year round. The utility manager - Darron Scott - tells the story of how this microgrid uses innovative storage strategies to balance hydro and wind resources on Alaska's largest remote microgrid. This is an excerpt from a forthcoming book entitled "Alaska's Energy Innovators" to be published by the University of Alaska Press.
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ACEP publishes the 2024 Alaska Electricity Trends Report
August 30, 2024
Energy data in Alaska is fragmented. No one agency is in charge of maintaining records from all communities in the state. It is challenging for policy makers and researchers to view the entirety of Alaska's electric generation sector in one place. The process of seeking out individual data sources, requesting data, and correcting errors can lead to misrepresentations of the whole picture. Recently, society's increased dependence on data for forecasting and planning reveals the growing need for vetted and up-to-date statistics on the state's energy trends.
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Kotzebue's legacy as a wind energy pioneer
July 12, 2024
The remarkable story of the Kotzebue energy system began with the vision of one man, Brad Reeve, the former manager of Kotzebue Electric Association (KEA). This was back in the early 1990s, and the utility scale wind market was just really beginning to get a foothold in the power generation industry. There was a healthy degree of skepticism about what role wind energy could play in commercial wind generation anywhere, let alone in an isolated community above the Arctic Circle. But Brad believed it could be done, and he set out to prove it.
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To tilt or not to tilt: Comparing residential solar designs in Fairbanks
July 07, 2024
Solar arrays with tilted panels usually have a higher upfront cost to install than flush-mounted panels, but there are no analyses about the real-world effect of tilt angle on energy production. This case study compares the monthly and seasonal energy production of flush-mounted and tilted solar panels in Fairbanks to determine if mounting angle makes a significant impact on solar energy production.
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A back-of-the-envelope look at how PCE and renewables interact in rural Alaska
June 28, 2024
Across the circumpolar North, interest in the creation of independent power producers (IPPs) to own and operate renewable power systems is growing. This new IPP ownership model and the integration of renewables more broadly, raise some interesting questions for Alaska's Power Cost Equalization program.
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Bringing billing innovations to Alaska's most remote communities
June 03, 2024
One of the critical challenges in serving remote communities around the world with vital electricity and other infrastructure services is how to pay for such services. The following are selected excerpts from UA Press' forthcoming book Alaska's Energy Innovators that follow the story of two women who were pivotal in creating electric utilities in Alaska's smallest and most remote villages and provided the tools - through prepay metering technology - to enable these micro-utilities to become sustainable enterprises.
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April 16, 2024
In mid-February, the frozen Yukon river 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 locals could use this seemingly frozen river to generate electricity.
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Telling the story of Alaska's electrification
April 01, 2024
As an energy and environmental historian at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, much of my research has focused on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) and its historical influence in Alaska and beyond. While conducting this research I kept finding fascinating and remarkable stories of Alaska's electrification. This book provided me the opportunity to offer a narrative of Alaska's electrical history and contemplate possibilities of electric futures.
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Alaska's data center opportunity: A reality check and possible next steps
February 08, 2024
The role of data centers continues to increase in the lives of ordinary citizens, large corporations and other electricity consumers across the globe. From the surge in interest and application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to the more localized needs of remote communities in Alaska, access to the Internet and cloud computing are transforming the economy and the electricity infrastructure that underpins it. Could a large data center like those seen in Iceland make sense in Alaska?
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Inspiring tales of energy innovation from the top of the world
January 19, 2024
As glaciers melt and permafrost thaws, treasured species of fish such as salmon and crab decline, oil reserves wane and consumer energy bills continue to rise, Alaska is re-evaluating its energy future. The good news is that many rural Alaska communities are already leading the way towards a new energy future for the state.
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January 03, 2024
As EV technology continues to improve and market demand grows in the U.S., the adoption of EVs will undoubtedly increase in Alaska. We see evidence of this trend already. What will this increase in electric demand mean for overall consumer rates as we work to address the gas conundrum over the next 5 to 10 years?
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ARCTIC Toolkit: Students pave the way towards energy resiliency in rural Alaska
November 10, 2023
Sometimes to get a job done in rural Alaska, you have to learn how to do it yourself. Equipped with thermometers, hair dryers, and infrared cameras, Alaska Teaching Through Technology students learned how to assess a home's energy efficiency, make recommendations and weatherize buildings with accessible materials.
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September 15, 2023
Public opinion about nuclear energy is often shaped by big events and popular culture, with many people not feeling they fully understand the topic
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Ready or not, electric vehicles are coming
August 03, 2023
The transition to electric vehicles is happening—rapidly in some places and more slowly in others. Are we ready for EVs in Alaska?
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Does Coal have a Role in Alaska's Energy Future
July 07, 2023
Coal has become a dirty word, and not without good reason. But when it comes to coal, Alaskans have to be pragmatic and open-minded about the realities of our state's needs and available resources. We need to think holistically about our energy options and how we can do the absolute best with ALL of the energy sources and technologies we have access to.
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Innovation at the Margins – Lessons Learned from Rural Alaska
June 29, 2023
Technology transitions don't happen uniformly all at once. There are pockets of early adopters, or niche markets, where technology uptake is much faster than the norm. In Alaska, those niche markets have been our rural communities. The Railbelt should look to its counterparts in rural Alaska to understand what strategies and approaches have worked, where, and why.
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Nuclear Power and the Perils of Pioneering
June 22, 2023
One day in 2004, Marvin Yoder, the City Manager of Galena, AK, received an unusual e-mail that would change his life and the course of an industry. The email was an inquiry from Toshiba Corporation, asking if Galena might be interested in hosting a demonstration deployment of a small nuclear microreactor "battery" that was under development in Japan.
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Seven Tomorrows - the perils of predicting the future
June 15, 2023
Predicting the future is hard - really hard. What can we learn from researchers who scientifically tried to predict the 1980s and 90s, but got things very, very wrong?
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Cheaper by the Dozen: Reducing Alaska's Electricity Costs
June 07, 2023
Next week, we will explore a cautionary tale about our ability to predict or forecast the future, and why maintaining flexibility in the face of uncertainty is a smart strategy.
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Embarking on a Quest for Cheap Energy
June 02, 2023
Could Alaska generate power for electricity and heat on par with the most competitive markets in the world? A look at the places in the world with the cheapest power to consumers reveals some valuable insights (as well as cautionary tales) to consider as the trend toward deregulation and the opening of energy markets continues to rise.
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Alaska's Energy Future: A view from my hot tub
May 22, 2023
From vast fossil energy resources to every possible flavor of renewable energy, Alaska has the resources and assets to produce some of the cheapest energy in the world. However, our current reality boasts the highest energy cost burden of any state in the U.S. Can investments we make today leave an intergenerational legacy of cheap and reliable energy in Alaska?
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