Arctic Remote Energy Networks Academy Begins Next Week

After two long years of COVID delays, the Arctic Remote Energy Networks Academy is finally convening in Fairbanks this month. The weeklong program, in partnership with Canada, Gwich’in Council International and Iceland, begins with three days in Fairbanks before participants fly to Kotzebue for four days and visit smaller communities in the Northwest Arctic Borough, including Buckland, Deering and Shungnak. 

The cohort will tour energy infrastructure in each community, network with local project managers and plant operators, and undergo an interactive half-day workshop on northern energy project management.

This year’s cohort consists of 11 individuals from Alaska, Canada and Greenland, and half identify as Indigenous. After completing the Alaska program, the cohort will reconvene in Reykjavik, Iceland, in October 2022 and again in Canada’s Yukon in January 2023. With the goals of building professional networks and catalyzing successful projects, the ARENA participants also receive mentoring and project support from experts in northern energy projects through January 2023.  

For more information on the ARENA program, please visit https://arena.alaska.edu/.

 

2017 ARENA participant Mogens Nielsen of Greenland looks at the geothermal power plant at Chena Hot Springs. Photo by Amanda Byrd.