Microgrid Bootcamp Prepares Interns for Summer Utility Internships

ACEP’s first Microgrid Boot Camp is in progress this week at the ACEP facilities on the UAF campus. This pilot boot camp is a collaboration between ACEP and the Laboratory for Energy And Power Solutions at Arizona State University.

The course was originally developed as part of the Naval Enterprise Partnership Teaming with Universities for National Excellence program, an energy research project funded by the U.S. Department of Defense to break new ground in alternative energy for the employment of student veterans.

The course here in Fairbanks is a boot camp-style intensive one-week training focused on technical, economic and regulatory basics of microgrids, with a focus on Alaska energy challenges. The audience for this year’s camp is University of Alaska undergraduate engineering students who have been selected for a summer internship at an Alaska utility for the summer.

The boot camp is outfitting these students with the knowledge and hands-on skills to prime them for summer project work with urban and remote utilities, all of which have started the process of integrating renewable and alternative energy sources into their grids. This pilot program is testing out the boot camp concept for Alaska, and first steps have been taken to extend the reach to utility members, city and tribal councils, housing authorities, trade schools and programs, and industry.

For more information on the ACEP Microgrid Boot Camp, please contact Heike Merkel.

 

ACEP's Jeremy Vandermeer leads a live demonstration of solar and wind energy integrating with the diesel generator in the Power Systems Integration Lab. Photo by Amanda Byrd.