ENERGY
© UAF photo by Todd Paris
Alaska Center for Energy and Power’s Arctic Solutions
The Alaska Center for Energy and Power has established the Alaska Hydrokinetic Research Center in Nenana to test turbine technology under realistic Alaska river conditions.
Integrating traditional and alternative energy into power grids By Julie Stricker
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Alaska Business Monthly | July 2014
“The problem was when you add a lot of renewable power into these small micro-grids, the variability in these resources really drives the diesel very hard. If that’s not managed well, you might have poor power quality or you might damage your diesel.”
© Todd Paris
I
n spring 2013, a stubborn ice jam on the Yukon River sent floodwaters surging into the small community of Galena, virtually wiping out the village. About half the homes in Galena, population 470, were deemed uninhabitable. Roads and power lines were washed out, the diesel power station was damaged, and residents lost freezers full of subsistence foods such as meat and berries, which spoiled after days without power. Galena’s power grid is typical of those throughout much of rural Alaska. The village is not on any road system—the only access is by plane, boat, or snowmobile. Its grid is also small and isolated.
—Marc Mueller-Stoffels Program Director, Alaska Center for Energy and Power Power Systems Integration program
In rebuilding, Galena residents decided to make a big push toward using solar power, but mixing traditional power generation with renewable power solutions
can cause problems if it’s not managed correctly. That’s where the Alaska Center for Energy and Power’s (ACEP) Power Systems Integration program came in. www.akbizmag.com