MultiPower-Local December 2011

8/3/2019 MultiPower-Local December 2011

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nical support, and financial assistance can

conceivably come from many directions.

The Kokhanok Project benefits from

funding through USDA and technical

expertise sharing with the Alaska Center

for Power at UAF. The local utility and

Lake and Peninsula Borough are also

making in-kind financial contributions to

the project.

Kokhanoks system integrates two refur-

bished Vestas V-17 wind turbines with

existing generators. Utilizing existing

generators and controls saves money, butit can crate its share of headaches as well.

Marsh Creek says Kokhanok should be

fully commissioned and operational

within 4 to 6 months. Things tend to take

longer than expected in rural Alaska.

Here are some of the challenges theyre

up against:

Somebody on-site needs to know how to

keep the system up and running. Local

utility operators willing to commit the

time and effort to fully understand com-

plex new technical systems is critical.Marsh Creek and Kokhanok Electric ad-

dressed this problem by signing a five

year Operations & Maintenance/Training

agreement.

For five years following commissioning

of the system, Marsh Creek will provide

two site visits annually. These site visits

will entail preventive maintenance with

hands on training for operators. In addi-

tion Marsh Creek is available 24/7 for

emergency calls and advice. Not all, but

many problems can be dealt with re-

motely, using the SCADA system.

SCADA is an acronym for supervisory

control and data acquisition and is a

computer program which monitors and

controls a facility from a distant location.

Other issues can be solved by viewing the

SCADA system and talking the local

operator through procedures.

The village of Kokhanok owns and oper-

(Continued from page 1)

ates the electric utility. The new hybrid wind

systems first responsibility is to continuously

provide high quality power to the community.

Wind is considered non-firm energy, mean-ing it does not always blow from the same

direction at the same speed, nor does it blow

when its needed for peak electric demand.

Kokhanoks demand for electricity can change

from moment to moment as well. Engineers

need to accommodate all of these scenarios..

Maximum fuel savings is achieved when the

diesel generators are turned off for extended

periods of time. One way to achieve diesels

off is to install more wind turbine capacity

than the community needs. The problem then

becomes what to do with the extra electricitythe community doesnt need.

Those of us familiar with plug-in electric heat-

ers know they use a lot of energy. Kokhanok

uses something similar, called a thermal dump

load, to soak up extra wind energy and dump

it into a boiler as needed. Heat from the boiler

goes into a domestic heat recovery loop,

which in turn is used to heat teacher housing

and the school. This way, all of the power

generated by the turbines is used. This is im-

portant to project economics.

Unalakleet, which has six wind turbines, isdealing with the problem of too much electric-

ity from the wind as well. When they first

installed their turbines, their powerhouse was-

nt ready for the extra electricity. A thermal

dump load to supplement space heating was

the answer for them as well.

The dump load by itself is not enough. Com-

plex equipment is necessary to keep voltage

and frequency within tight limits, and to avoid

damaging utility customer equipment. Equip-

ment necessary for power quality and condi-

tioning must be precisely controlled and moni-

tored.

The Alaska Energy Authoritys Energy Path-

way, which performed a detailed analysis of

every community in our region and made

short, mid, and long term recommendations

for conservation, efficiency, and renewable

energy, projects it will be 15 years before we

fully utilize the winds power here. If Marsh

Creeks success in Kokhanok is any indica-

tion, that day will come sooner, rather than

later.

Kokhanok Wind

(continued from page 1)

of Elim are in full support of this project.

They also received a letter of support from

AVEC, which provides the village power.

A number of known and suspected hot

springs are located in the rugged hills sur-

rounding Elim. Suspected means that elders

say they exist, but nobody has been there for

years.

Last summer, the Alaska Center for Energy

and Power tested innovative airborne and

remote sensing techniques at Pilgrim Hot

Springs outside of Nome. Elim and UAF

propose to use similar techniques. The

country around Elim is so rugged that even

simple reconnaissance is difficult on the

ground. It should be much easier to find

suspected springs from the air with an infra-

red camera. The countryside surrounding

Elim seems especially well suited for

UAFs airborne survey techniques.

Elim hot springs is the closest of the springs

to be surveyed to the village, but it is not the

largest or hottest in the immediate vicinity.

Clear Creek is hotter and larger, but is far-

ther away. The UAF survey would include

economic analysis of options available to

Elim.

Elim Hot Springs

Ferns growing around Elim Hot Spring


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2nd Edition Page 5

Railbelt customers. Space heating con-

sumes 43% of energy in the average vil-

lage.

Ross Coen talked about how the availabil-

ity of energy resources has influenced

where people live in Alaska for thousands

of years. Wood for space heating is one

critical resource. Guess which Village in

(Continued from page 1)

our region exported wood for a profit during

the gold rush.

We saw how Sealaska now heats their 60,000

square foot building with wood pellets. Theysay the system is working great, and claim to

be saving lots of money. Pellets are currently

imported from Canada. Sealaska might start

making them locally if they can drum up

enough demand.

If you buy a container load of pellets, pellet

heating might be cost competitive with fuel oil

at todays prices in Nome. If they start making

pellets in Juneau, however, pellet heating

might become cheaper.

During a technical session on alternative

fuels we found out about a large coal gasifi-

cation project going on in Southeast Alaska,

and about a new biofuel diesel additive thatwill soon be manufactured in Anchorage

using feed stock shipped from the lower 48.

We ended with a bus tour of local energy

projects, including a small hydro project

nearby the conference, methane recovery at

a landfill, and grain recycling at the Alaska

Brewery.

If you are interested in energy in rural

Alaska, the Rural Energy Conference is the

place to be. They offered travel scholarships

this year. Keep your eye out, next years

conference might be closer to home.

below, is among a number of sites in the

State that might benefit from this project.

Interties are another good candidate for

HVDC. The intertie from Nome to Teller

shown on the map below wouldnt even be

considered at todays prices. Apparently

somebody thinks that HVDC might make it

cost effective.

The farther away a renewable energy re-

source like geothermal is from a commu-

nity, the more the cost of transmission line

construction becomes a factor. Todays rule

of thumb for smaller communities like

Elim is, the energy resource needs to be

located within about 15 miles to be viable.

The limit is farther with larger communities

like Nome. HVDC transmission might dou-

ble that; its a big deal. Its looking like HVDC will costs about

half as much; it only uses one wire. That

means utility poles are less expensive to

produce and install, and they can be spaced

farther apart.

Polarconsult Alaska Inc, with funding from

the Denali Commission Emerging Energy

Technology Fund, is testing HVDC trans-

mission technology near Fairbanks.

Princeton Power Systems, a subcontractor

to Polarconsult, is developing special con-

verters, needed at both ends of the wire,that are suitable for Alaska.

A Stakeholders Advisory Group headed by

Polarconsult Alaska Inc., with representa-

tion from many of the big energy players in

the State, has met three times in Anchorage

to help plan the future of this technology.

Pilgrim hot springs, shown on the map

High Voltage DC TransmissionHVDC

Polarconsult

Alaska, Inc


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MultiPower-Local December 2011

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