Alaska Energy Authority Renewable Energy Fund
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.