UAF to host Canadian group, discuss energy innovation

April 26, 2019

UAF photo by Todd Paris. The Energy Technology Facility, pictured here, is operated by the Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. It houses the Power Systems Integration Laboratory, which a visiting group from Canada will tour April 29.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks will host a delegation of Canadian professionals and indigenous leaders next week to discuss renewable energy research and technology.

UAF’s Alaska Center for Energy and Power will welcome the visitors as part of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. Participants from the Yukon, Nunavut, Manitoba, Quebec and the Northwest Territories will visit Alaska from April 28-May 3.

During their visit, the group will meet with professionals and policymakers in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Kotzebue. Each community is exploring or implementing renewable energy technologies, including the use of wind, solar, biomass, thermal energy storage and more.

ACEP Director Gwen Holdmann said remote communities in Canada and Alaska share many of the same energy challenges. With more than 300 remote communities that rely on high-cost diesel power, Alaska has a strong interest in improving the performance of both new and existing power systems.

ACEP helps develop solutions to those challenges through applied energy research and is a global leader in developing energy systems for remote electric grids. The U.S. Embassy in Ottawa selected ACEP to host the delegation due to the center’s extensive resources and expertise in the energy sector.

“Remote Alaska has served as the front line of renewable microgrid innovation, and our own successes, mistakes and lessons learned can help other communities take larger steps toward their own energy security and innovations,” Holdmann said.

The International Visitor Leadership Program is the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program. Through short-term visits, current and emerging foreign leaders can experience the U.S. firsthand and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts.

NOTE TO EDITORS: Photo and interview opportunities will be available in Fairbanks. A welcome reception will be on Sunday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the Brooks Building Gathering Room at UAF; on Monday, April 29, the group will take tours of the Power Systems Integration Laboratory on the Fairbanks campus at 1:30 p.m. and the Cold Climate Housing Research Center at 3:30 p.m.; on Tuesday, April 30, the group will take an 11 a.m. tour of Lifewater Engineering. To coordinate a visit, contact George Roe at 206-454-9189 or Amanda Byrd at 907-978-0305.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: ACEP Director Gwen Holdmann, gwen.holdmann@alaska.edu, 907-590-4577.