ACEP receives $3 million to advance energy resilience

ACEP receives $3 million to advance energy resilience

The Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has received $3 million to study technology that can strengthen energy systems in remote and strategically important regions.

The Office of Naval Research award will support the work of the Alaska Regional Collaboration for Technology Innovation and Commercialization.

This is the fourth phase of the ARCTIC program, which was established in 2017 and will run through 2031. With the latest award, ACEP has received $33 million through the ARCTIC program.

The program brings together researchers, communities and industry partners to test and evaluate energy technologies in real-world operating environments.

"The ARCTIC program continues to transform UAF's and the state's ability to meet the Navy's and the Marine Corps' need for resilient energy systems in austere regions," said Jeremy Kasper, principal investigator of the ARCTIC program and ACEP director. "The fourth phrase includes applied research on energy security and cyber protection of energy systems, all topics that are continuously in the headlines in other regions of the world but that are increasingly important in Alaska, the Arctic and Pacific regions."

ARCTIC will build on ACEP's longstanding partnership with the Alaska communities of Galena, Kotzebue and Cordova. Researchers will work alongside these communities and use their microgrids as test beds.

The research will focus on challenges that are important in remote and isolated communities. These include reducing dependence on fuel and vulnerable supply chains, improving the efficiency and reliability of electric power systems, strengthening cyber and physical resilience, and building and supporting the workforce needed to operate complex energy systems.

For Alaska communities, these challenges are immediate and practical, Kasper said. Remote communities often face high energy costs, limited infrastructure, difficult operating conditions and long, vulnerable supply chains. By developing and testing solutions in Alaska, ARCTIC can help communities address these challenges while generating knowledge that can be applied in other Arctic, Pacific and defense-related settings, he said.

The ONR award enables ACEP to continue a long-term, community-based approach to applied energy research. Rather than developing technologies in isolation, ARCTIC tests solutions in the environments where they must perform, bridging the gap between research and deployment and accelerating the development of more resilient energy systems.

ARCTIC is led by ACEP researchers and includes partnerships with the UA Anchorage Center for Economic Development and the UAF Center for Innovation.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Jeremy Kasper, [email protected]

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