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AEA awards new emerging energy grants Two projects receive funding under round of awards that is focusing on electrical microgrid technologies that may be used in Alaska ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
The Alaska Energy Authority has awarded grants to two projects under round three of the agency’s Emerging Energy Technology Fund. The grants go to Ocean Renewable Power Corp. for a microgrid control application being developed and tested in the village of Igiugig, and to the Fairbanks North Star Borough, to demonstrate the use of a gasification combined power and heat system, AEA announced on Jan. 11.
The purpose of the Emerging Energy Technology Fund is to facilitate the testing in Alaska of emerging technologies for energy supplies or energy conservation. The idea is evaluate new energy technologies; to improve or find different ways of using existing technologies; and to deploy established technologies that have not been used in Alaska but are commercially viable elsewhere.
Focus on microgrids During a Jan. 11 meeting of the AEA board, AEA Lead Economist Cady Lister explained that round three of the EETF funding is particularly focusing on the use of microgrid technologies in Alaska - a microgrid, in this context, is a small-scale electricity supply grid of a type that operates in, for example, a rural Alaska village. The U.S. Department of Energy is particularly interested in microgrid technology and, for Alaska, has offered a $250,000 grant that requires a one-to-one funding match. AEA has about $750,000 available in state funds for the EETF program but has decided to only use money that is supported by matching funds, Lister explained.
The ORPC project in Igiugig will receive a $210,000 award from AEA, matched by a $210,000 DOE grant. The project is testing technology that enables the integration of wind, hydrokinetic and diesel power in the village. The Fairbanks North Star Borough project is receiving a $209,000 AEA award, which the borough is matching - this project will also use $120,000 in contributions from other sources.
Earlier rounds Two earlier rounds of EETF funding took place in 2012 and 2013, with AEA, the Denali Commission and some other funding sources all contributing to the total cost of $16.5 million for the selected projects, Lister said. For those two rounds, AEA received nearly 100 grant applications and issued 19 project awards. Of these projects, 10 are complete or nearly complete, Lister said. The projects include the testing of heat pump usage in cold conditions; the use of thermal shutters and doors for energy conservation; the use of flywheels for stabilizing fluctuating power supplies; and a system for improving the efficiency and safety of stove pipes.
Lister said that benefits gained from the EETF program include the continuation of programs in Alaska that have received a kick start from EETF funding and have then been able to also attract investors and participation from national laboratories, universities and private equity. The program has also aided in the development of two technology test beds that can now be used in conjunction with non-EETF funded projects. Those test beds consist of the hydrokinetics test bed at Nenana and the Alaska Center for Energy and Power’s power system integration laboratory in the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Lister said.
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