UAF Bristol Bay Campus Kristian Nudlash-Barger records fuel use patterns while Angie Bowers cuts kelp at
an experimental site near Sitka while testing data logging equipment in 2023.
The Green Energy in Mariculture (GEM) project aims to help farmers and processors
maximize energy efficiency and renewable energy while minimizing dependence on fossil fuels. The project
has three phases: a baseline study to quantify current energy use patterns, a green
energy plan to guide investment as the industry grows, and a best practices guide
for future energy audits and efficiency work. GEM will develop the baseline energy
use profile by working with farmers and processors to measure energy use and determining
patterns and trends in energy use. Farmers and processors that participate in the
project will receive a stipend as well as a report specific to their operation.
The green energy plan will complement the regional energy planning already completed
or underway by state agencies and tribes by focusing on the rising mariculture industry.
In addition to the data collected in the baseline study, the plan will utilize results
from the Joint Innovation Projects currently supported by the Alaska Fisheries Development
Foundation to identify the best opportunities to reduce emissions associated with
the industry. The GEM plan will be a repository of information regarding green energy
use in mariculture and explain the investments in infrastructure, equipment and training
that will be necessary to achieve green energy goals. The best practices guide will
support ongoing efficiency and renewable energy work after the GEM project completes.
UAF Bristol Bay Campus Project team members Calvin George and Gus Lewis evaluate energy use by a vessel preparing
to set anchors for a kelp farm in Cordova.
The guide will provide appropriate methods and assumptions to use in future energy
audits in order to facilitate fair access to renewable energy projects. The guide
will also summarize the impact of appropriate renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
The Alaska mariculture industry is poised for rapid growth driven by the innovative people developing farms and processing facilities
throughout the state. We hope that GEM will serve as a repository for information about the work conducted around the industry to achieve sustainability
goals. By dedicating researchers’ time to compiling that information and quantifying the impact of energy efficiency and ren ewable energy options, GEM will ensure that the most impactful methods of reducing
emissions are communicated broadly and accurately valued.
ChandIer Kemp is an assistant professor of sustainable energy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
Bristol Bay Campus and the Principal Investigator (PI) for IGEAM. Kemp led energy
measurement, modeling and communication work for the Fishing Vessel Energy Efficiency Project (FVEEP)
in partnership with the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation. Kemp developed an online
vessel energy auditing tool, quantified the value of energy efficiency measures of interest,
and provided reports and presentations for FVEEP. After completing FVEEP, Kemp assisted more than
50 vessel applications to the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program.
Kemp also wrote a report addressing the feasibility of all electric and hybrid diesel-electric
Alaska fishing vessels in 2021. Kemp leads classes addressing various renewable energy resources, mentors
students and provides ongoing energy efficiency consulting services to many marine industry practitioners.
Kemp will provide project management; contribute to equipment installation, engineering
modeling, and writing; and integrate contributions from the economic and engineering teams.
Meilani Schijvens is the principal at Rain Coast Data, a research and consulting firm
specializing in Alaska comprehensive development strategies, socioeconomic impact studies, and economic
modeling. Schijvens has focused on Alaska economic, maritime, seafood housing, transportation,
and natural resource development for the past 25 years, founded Rain Coast Data in
2014, and developed hundreds of studies. Schijvens will lead economic modeling efforts for the
project.
Devon Kibby is an Alaska-registered Professional Electrical Engineer and the Principal Engineer
at Pacific Alternatives LLC. Kibby previously worked in the electrical construction industry
as an estimator, project manager, and executive. Kibby is a founding member of the non-profit
Juneau Electric Vehicle Association (JEVA) and Alaska Electric Vehicle Association (AKEVA)
where he has worked on siting, building, and maintaining Alaska’s first four fast chargers, helping
EV owners with technical issues, representing JEVA pro se at the Regulatory Commission of Alaska
(RCA) in docket U- 17-002, and advising the City/Borough of Juneau on public charging infrastructure.
Kibby will oversee cost estimation and installation guide development.
Linda Behnken is a commercial fisher with 40 years of experience and the executive director of
the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association since 1991. Behnken brings a deep understanding
of Alaska’s fishing fleet and fishing communities to the project. Behnken has a broad
network of connections with Alaska’s fishing communities and will draw on these connections to
facilitate energy assessment work in representative locations. Behnken will serve as an advisor
to the project and guide project design, implementation, and communication of results.
Erik O’Brien is a lifelong setnet fisherman, a mariculture entrepreneur, a development economist
and a program manager. O’Brien brings a mix of practical experience managing and manipulating
marine fishing and farming systems to find efficiency in difficult-to-operate remote communities;
and a statewide perspective of institutions, governance, and policy around economic development. O’Brien
will serve as an advisor to the project, focusing on implementation and integration into rural marine
businesses.
Angela Bowers is an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Southeast Fisheries Technology
program and has worked in Alaska aquaculture and mariculture for 17 years. Bowers
is passionate about helping this industry develop into one that utilizes renewable energy in an efficient
way and can provide insight and connections to farmers and researchers as we work to develop a long term
energy plan for the mariculture industry.
Mohammad Heidari is an Assistant Professor at UAA Department of Electrical Engineering
with expertise on energy resilience in island and remote communities and renewable energy
integration in Alaska. Dr. Heidari is also an affiliated researcher of Alaska Center for Energy
and Power, and an early career research advisory board member for NSF NNA Community Office. Heidari
will provide student mentorship in the project and oversee engineering modeling for the project.
Calvin George is a full blooded Tlingit from southeast Alaska. He has worked in many
parts of the seafood industry, from fishing in the Bering Sea to processing plants
in the Gulf of Alaska. He has lived a hybrid life sometimes living in cities and other
times pursuing a rural subsistence lifestyle. George's passion is contributing in
every way possible to enhancing stability and growth within Alaska's cultural and
economic future. Through mariculture, he found a vision to develop a new economy while
restoring Alaska's ocean, land and peoples.
