Intern Helps Reimagine Energy Security in Northern Communities

Intern Helps Reimagine Energy Security in Northern Communities

A multinational research initiative hosted by the University of Saskatchewan, the Community Appropriate Sustainable Energy Security Partnership, is reimagining energy security in northern and Indigenous communities. The program is doing this by co-creating and brokering the knowledge, understanding and capacity to design, implement and manage renewable energy systems that support and enhance social and economic values.

Ilya Turchaninov is an ACEP utility student intern this summer working on the first phase of the CASES Partnership. Phase 1 concentrates on gathering community energy-use data coupled with community member interviews to obtain a holistic profile of current energy requirements and potential for future improvements.

For his internship, Turchaninov is involved with the energy profile development for the City of Galena. He is creating a template for importing and visualizing data required by the CASES framework to simplify the data collection process. The template will be applicable not just for Galena but any community involved in the CASES project.

He is also contributing to the development of an electrical/thermal load profile for Galena in support of a local initiative, Sustainable Energy for Galena Alaska.

Turchaninov resides in Anchorage and is a graduate of the University of Alaska Southeast with a B.S. in biology with minors in mathematics and Spanish language. After spending a year working as a biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, he decided to pursue a master’s in sustainable energy systems at Imperial College London. He will start in October of 2020.

Through the internship with ACEP, Turchaninov says that he hopes to “develop key relationships and build a greater understanding of the sustainable energy field that will prepare me for upcoming academic and real-world challenges.”

Turchaninov’s internship is funded through the Alaska Regional Collaboration for Technology Innovation and Commercialization, an initiative of the Office of Naval Research.

For more information on the ACEP Utility Student Internship Program, visit http://ausi.alaska.edu. For more information on the CASES Partnership, contact Diane Hirshberg at dbhirshberg@alaska.edu.

 

Ilya Turchaninov is an ACEP utility student intern this summer, working with the community of Galena. Photo courtesy of Ilya Turchaninov.