SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, March 9, 2021: Xendee Corporation, Idaho National Laboratory (INL), and the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP) have been granted funding to assess the viability of tidal, wave, and river/ocean current technologies for powering remote Alaskan Communities as well as generate a framework for their integration in modeling platforms. This project, launched in part with seed money from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Power Technologies Office, is intended to tap into regional sources of energy to reduce costs and dependency on imported fossil fuels as well as to enhance local resilience and sustainability.
“Several grid-islanded Alaskan communities have the potential to harness significant hydrokinetic power,” said Thomas Mosier, Energy Systems Group Lead at Idaho National Laboratory. “The implementation of Microgrids in these areas would diversify local energy profiles with the potential in many communities to keep costs flat while reducing environmental impact and the dependence on diesel.”
The project team will first generate a database of grid-islanded communities that are strong candidates for this type of technology and currently have a heavy reliance on diesel burning generators for power generation. The project team will then assess the strategy and integration methods related to implementing marine hydrokinetic technologies in an islanded grid facing arctic weather conditions.
“The decision framework that will be developed for this effort will provide a systematic basis for recommending potential microgrid configurations,” said Shiloh Elliott, Modeling and Simulation Scientist at Idaho National Laboratory. “Those configurations will utilize local reliable energy sources to increase community power resilience and diversify power profiles to isolated and vulnerable Alaskan communities.”
Finally, the project team will be enhancing Xendee, the Microgrid decision support platform of choice, to include capabilities for marine hydrokinetic technologies.
“The introduction of marine hydrokinetic technologies to the Xendee software platform offers a quick and reliable way for Microgrid designers to experiment with new DER technologies and test the viability and bankability of Microgrid projects before breaking ground,” said Michael Stadler CTO of Xendee. “In fact, with the new technologies integrated, our team will be able to easily examine the use of other technologies as well, such as hydropower or wind energy to supplement the islanded communities.”
About Xendee: Xendee develops world-class Microgrid decision support software that helps designers and investors optimize and certify the Fight-Through™ resilience and financial performance of projects with confidence. The Xendee Microgrid platform enables a broad audience; from business decision makers to scientists, with the objective of supporting investments in Microgrids and maintaining electric power reliability when integrating sources of renewable generation.
About Idaho National Laboratory: INL is a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratory that performs work in each of DOE’s strategic goal areas: energy, national security, science and environment. INL is the nation’s center for nuclear energy research and development. Day-to-day management and operation of the laboratory is the responsibility of Battelle Energy Alliance.
See more INL news at: www.inl.gov
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About Alaska Center for Energy and Power: The Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP) based at the University of Alaska Fairbanks is dedicated to applied energy research and testing focused on lowering the cost of energy throughout Alaska and developing economic opportunities for the State, its residents, and its industries.
Contacts:
Jay Gadbois | press@xendee.com
Xendee
