ACEP -Alaska Center for Energy & Power

Project Description

ACEP, with oversight from the AEA, collaborated with selected AEA REF grant recipients to analyze project impacts.

ACEP project activities include the following:

• Technical assistance to grant recipients with instrumentation specification, installation, integration, and configuration to collect the data points specified by the data collection plan.
• Automated standard (non-interpretive) monthly reports for AEA and the grant recipient that will include aggregated plots and summaries of specific data collected as well as appropriate statistical measures.
• Open access to the data, if permitted, via the Alaska Energy Data Gateway that will allow data to be ordered and/or processed into a graphical and easy-to-understand format for AEA and other public users.
• Site visits to review and support data collection activities.
• Independent analysis of data at project completion to verify project results, energy production, and savings.

Participating Projects

Chevak - Excess Wind-to-Heat and Waste Heat Recovery from Diesel Generators in the Community Powerhouse

(Project Report: Chevak REF Round 5 and Round 7)

• (1)    Performance assessment of wind turbines (i.e., are the wind turbines operating to capacity, when are they curtailed, etc.?);
• (2)    Quantification of excess wind diverted to the community’s water plant system and associated fuel savings;
• (3)    Delivery system losses for recovered heat, and associated fuel savings from recovered heat system.
• (4)    Assessment of additional wind power available for diversion into demand managed thermal loads to offset further heating fuel requirements and increase utility revenue.

Eagle and Eagle Village - Community Solar Array

(Project Report: Solar Photovoltaic Performance Overview: An Analysis of Solar-Diesel Microgrid Performance in Eagle, Alaska)

• (1)    What are peak solar ramp rates, when do they occur, and do they impact reliability?
• (2)    Does the solar project impact frequency of blackouts, for example at high solar penetration if the Eagle Village intertie goes down?
• (3)    Are there power quality impacts caused by integration of the solar array?
• (4)    How does the project performance compare to PVWatts predictions?

Nome - Wind Turbine Impacts on Community Energy Sources

(Project Report: Nome Wind-Diesel System Overview)

• (1)    Automated emissions reporting to facilitate air quality permitting requirements.
• (2)    Impact of wind utilization on diesel fuel efficiencies to determine more accurate diesel offset when engine efficiencies are reduced at low loads.
• (3)    Tracking of excess wind and power to determine potential for system optimization and maximum use of renewables

Photo Left: Kodiak windmills. Photo courtesy of Jim Jager.

Photo Middle: The GARN system in Gulkana, Alaska. Photo courtesy of D. Huang, ACEP/UAF.

Photo Right: AHERC collects data on the Tanana River using a state of the art sonar system. UAF photo by Todd Paris.