Intern Assesses Energy Storage in Eagle

Josiah Alverts, an ACEP Utility Student Intern, is working with the power engineering team at Alaska Power & Telephone on a feasibility study for the community of Eagle, Alaska.

The community is currently powered by diesel generation and a solar array that was installed six years ago. Alverts, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, is focusing his study on the possibility of adding an energy storage system.

AP&T is in the process of adding ESS to several other communities, but Eagle is the only one with solar generation considering development of a storage system. Alverts is using XENDEE and Homer Pro software to model the community grid and optimize theoretical scenarios as part of the feasibility study.

“In order to get useful results from the model, I need to understand the technical and financial details of the current system in Eagle as well as the challenges of installing microgrid components in a remote location,” Alverts said.

Alverts’ internship is funded through the ARCTIC Program, an initiative of the Office of Naval Research. For more information on the ACEP Utility Student Internship program, visit http://ausi.alaska.edu or contact Heike Merkel.

 

Josiah Alverts is an intern this summer with Alaska Power and Telephone. Photo courtesy of Josiah Alverts.