ACEP Training Tool Illuminates Electricity Understanding

ACEP’s new microgrid training tool, the Illumination Station, is an interactive display with a fully functional solar power system to teach renewable energy integration into microgrids. The system includes solar panels, a charge controller, an inverter, a battery bank, circuit breakers, lighting loads and outlets.

The Illumination Station was designed to teach basic electrical safety, the difference between a home energy system and a microgrid, how to calculate currents and voltages in a system, and how to appropriately size components and protection.

The training tool was first used for hands-on exercises at the 2019 ACEP Microgrid Boot Camp to prepare ACEP utility student interns for their assignments with various utilities across Alaska.
To learn more about the Illumination Station, please contact Jeremy Vandermeer at jbvandermeer@alaska.edu.

 

The Illumination Station features a microgrid powered by a solar panel. Photo by Jeremy Vandermeer.