ACEP awarded $3 million for wind-diesel energy research
September 17, 2010
907-474-1144
9/16/10
The Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has received a $3 million grant from the Department of Energy to study options to optimize wind-diesel hybrid energy systems in rural Alaska.
Alaska is already home to several systems pairing wind turbines with diesel power plants. However, many are not performing as designed due to Alaska’s extreme weather and remote, distributed grid systems. With some of the highest energy costs in the country, including electric power approaching $1 per kilowatt-hour and gasoline prices as high as $10 per gallon in some villages, the cost of inefficiency and failure in these systems is high.
ACEP’s research will focus on three areas:
• resolving technical issues related to power stability, long term energy storage and control systems to better use the fluctuating power of wind;
• investigating issues related to turbine performance in cold climates and remote locations such as icing, foundations in poor soils and remote monitoring;
• addressing social, economic and political barriers.
ACEP is leading a team of researchers from both UAF and UAA, including engineers, economists, natural resource scientists and experts on the social issues of rural Alaska.
“This project represents the culmination of two years of work to develop our wind-diesel research into a nationally and internationally recognized program,” said project leader and ACEP director Gwen Holdmann. “We are excited to have assembled a strong interdisciplinary team from throughout the UA system for this project that is capable of considering these issues from many different perspectives.”
The project will include partnerships with the Alaska Energy Authority, the Denali Commission, the Renewable Alaska Energy Project and national laboratories. The grant is part of the DOE’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR.
ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Gwen Holdmann, ACEP director, at 907-474-5402 or gwen.holdmann@alaska.edu. UAF public information officer, at 907-474-7902 or via e-mail at marmian.grimes@alaska.edu.
JE/9-16-10/044-11