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REDUCING THE COST OF ENERGY IN ALASKA AKENERGYAUTHORITY.ORG
February 13, 2023
EMERGING ENERGY TECHNOLOGY FUND
Fund Establishment
The Emerging Energy Technology Fund (EETF) was established by the 26
th Alaska State Legislature
to promote the expansion of energy sources available to Alaskans through the unanimous
passage of Senate Bill (SB) 220, signed into law in June 2010. SB 220, as passed, amended Alaska
Energy Authority (AEA) statutes AS 42.45 adding a new section under article 7A – “Emerging
Energy Technology Fund”, under AS 42.45.375. Accompanying EETF regulations were set forth
under 3 AAC 107.600–695.
Fund Administration and Eligibility
The EETF was administered by AEA and in consultation with the seven-member advisory
committee, as per AS 42.45.375(f), was utilized to make grants to eligible applicants for
demonstration of technologies that have a reasonable expectation to be commercially viable
within five years and that are designed to: (i) test emerging energy technologies or methods of
conserving energy; (ii) improve an existing energy technology; or (iii) deploy an existing
technology that has not been demonstrated in the state. “Energy technology”, as per AS
42.45.375(j)(2) was defined as “technology that promotes, enhances, or expands the diversity of
available energy supply sources or means of transmission, increases energy efficiency, or reduces
negative energy-related environmental effects; "energy technology" includes technology related
to renewable sources of energy, conservation of energy, enabling technologies, efficient and
effective use of hydrocarbons, and integrated energy systems.”
Eligible applicants for funding under the EETF, as per AS 42.45.375(d) were (i) electric utilities
holding a certificate of public convenience and necessity under AS 42.05; (ii) independent power
producers; (iii) a local government, quasi-governmental entity, or other governmental entity,
including a tribal council or housing authority; (iv) a business holding an Alaska business license;
or (v) nonprofit organizations.
As per statute (AS , grants awarded under the EETF were to be prioritized for (i) Alaska residents,
associations, organizations, or institutions; (ii) projects that demonstrate partnership with the
University of Alaska or another Alaska postsecondary institution; (iii) projects support by matching
funds or in-kind partnerships; and (iv) projects with potential for widespread deployment in the
state.
As was allowed under AS 42.45.375(e), AEA entered into a partnership with the University of Alaska
– Fairbanks (UAF) for UAF’s administration of the data collection owing to those projects funded
under the EETF.
Alaska Energy Authority Page 2 of 6
Projects Funded Under the EETF
A total of 21 project were funded under the EETF program. One project remains in progress, with
the project closeout anticipated for August 2023.
See Appendix A for a summary of these projects.
EETF Grant Funds, Supporting Federal Funds, and Grantee Matching Funds
A total of $5.8 million dollars in state funds were expended through the EETF in support of the 21
projects, of a total of $6.8 million appropriated, resulting in $926,000 in state funds remaining in
the fund. An additional $3.65 million was received in additional federal dollars to support these
project efforts, with $3.4 million from the Denali Commission and $250,000 from the U.S. Dept. of
Energy. A further $6.1 million was received in both cash and in-kind matching support from
grantees. For every state dollar invested under the EETF, the projects received an additional $0.62
and $1.05 in federal and grantee match, respectively, for a total leverage factor of $1.67 for every
state dollar expended.
Repeal of the EETF
The EETF was initially set to be repealed on January 1, 2015 under SLA 10, Ch. 83, Sec 37, Pg 24,
ln 31. In 2014, the 28th Alaska State Legislature extended the EETF program for an additional 5
years to January 1, 2020 with the passage of SB 183, signed into law in July 2014, see SLA 14, Ch.
94 Sec 1, lns 3-5.
Alaska Energy Authority Page 3 of 6
Appendix A: EETF Projects Summary
No Project Name State Funds Fed Funds State + Fed Total Grantee Match Grantee Project Description
1 Advanced Grid
Solutions Strategy
85,750.00$ 125,000.00$ 210,750.00$ 260,607.07$ ORPC, Inc.Develop an advanced grid integration strategy that will enable
multiple renewable energy sources incorporated with an
Energy Storage System (ESS) to be delivered to remote diesel
microgrids at high penetration, including stand-alone, diesel
off operations. The primary innovations of this system will
include development and validation of an inverter capable of
operation in both grid support and grid-forming (current
source and impedance controlled voltage source) modes and
software to optimize dispatch of energy to maximize
efficiency and enable standalone operations.
2 Biomass
Reforestation for
Boreal Forests
24,297.41$ 20,697.81$ 44,995.22$ 55,632.11$ Alaska Division
of Forestry
The Alaska Division of Forestry and the Forest Products
Program at UAF investigated a low cost planting technique
intended for forest regeneration after biomass harvest that
uses un-rooted poplar tree stem-cuttings. The technique
involved the wintertime collection of branch cuttings that
were stored, soaked, and then planted as stems after
snowmelt. Stooling beds were also planted to facilitate future
stem harvests of poplar varieties that were found to thrive
over the course of the project. Although less energy-dense
than other biomass fuel stocks, poplars have much faster
growth rates. This study compared the growth and survival of
hybrid poplar varieties to that of the native balsam poplar
found in Alaska. Several different hybrids were planted in 2013
with varying success. In 2014, only one hybrid poplar clone,
Northwest, which is a hybrid of balsam poplar (Populus
balsamifera) and P. deltoids, was evaluated.
3 Arctic Thermal
Shutters and Doors
64,688.94$ 55,105.38$ 119,794.32$ 29,956.25$ Arctic Sun, LLC Address the long-standing issue of inefficient windows and
doors by constructing high-efficiency systems, and deploying
this advanced technology statewide. To achieve this goal
requires: a high-performing, affordable product; validation of
the product’s performance; public acceptance of the
validation for marketability; and, a willing supply-through-
sales chain for maximum distribution. Project includes the
development and use of high-efficient exterior doors and two
styles of thermal window shutters: Arctic Doors, Arctic
Shutters, and Blow-In Insulation Shutters.
4 Ultra-Efficient
Generator and
Diesel-Electric
Propulsion
121,707.50$ 103,677.75$ 225,385.25$ 249,952.75$ Genesis
Machining and
Fabrication
Advance diesel-electric motor fuel efficiency for adaptation in
Alaska's fishing and rural communities through the
development of two core diesel technologies, the power-
dense motor and the Universal Modular Inverter Controller.
Prototypes are to be developed and tested at the power levels
and in the environments which they will operate. A three-
year plan that incrementally brings these innovations from
their current state to a marketable state.
5 Cold Climate Heat
Pump
Demonstration
64,512.00$ 54,955.00$ 119,467.00$ 25,050.12$ Cold Climate
Housing
Research Center
In an effort to address the lack of studies into the long-term
performance of GSHPs in cold climates, CCHRC began a
ten-year study of a GSHP system at their Research and Testing
Facility (RTF) in Fairbanks, Alaska in 2013. The study is
designed to use models and a demonstration heat pump to
evaluate the longterm performance of a GSHP. Data from the
demonstration project are used to inform the finite element
analysis which was used to aid in system design and to
determine the optimal depth for ground heat exchanger
placement in locations with similar soil conditions. The
efficiency information from the demonstration is used to
create a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the environmental
impact of a GSHP system compared with typical fossil fuel
heating systems. Additionally, the conditions of the soils
around the slinky coils (GHE) are monitored to evaluate the
thermal degradation as well as the significance of practical
and affordable ground surface treatments to maximize
energy capture in the ground.
Summary of Grants Awarded under EETF Program
Alaska Energy Authority Page 4 of 6
Appendix A: EEFT Projects Summary (Continued)
No Project Name State Funds Fed Funds State + Fed Total Grantee Match Grantee Project Description
6 Enhanced
Condensation for
Organic Rankine
Cycle
89,414.14$ 76,167.59$ 165,581.73$ 30,218.00$ UAF Institute of
the Northern
Engineering
UAF Institute of Northern Engineering will demonstrate the
use of a heterogeneous condensing as a means for increase
heat transfer capability and higher efficiency in Organic
Rankine Cycle (OCR) systems. INE will design an optimal
condensing surface that enhances the vapor-to-liquid phase
changing heat and mass transfer and results in cost
reductions in construction and operation of heat recovery
ORC systems.
7 Safe and Efficient
Exhaust Thimble
22,941.15$ 19,542.44$ 42,483.59$ 6,094.62$ UAF Institute of
the Northern
Engineering
Development of a safe and efficient exhaust thimble - This
project will build and test a new design of ventilated exhaust
thimble for wood stoves, oilfired furnaces, diesel generators
and other high-temperature exhaust generating sources. This
exhaust thimble technology will initially be designed, built,
and tested at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. After final
design and commercialization is complete, these new
thimbles can be installed throughout Alaska and other cold-
climate locations, with the benefit of higher thermal
efficiency and much improved safety from potential fire.
8 High Capacity
Airborne Wind
Turbine
107,912.90$ 91,925.10$ 199,838.00$ 118,671.00$ Altaeros
Energies, Inc.
Development of a high capacity airborne wind turbine -
Phase I: Design, permitting, and prototype assembly work
conducted at the offices of Altaeros Energies in Boston, MA
and TDX Power in Anchorage, AK. Phase II: installation and
operation of the wind turbine prototype at the Delta Wind
Farm. Phase III: Airborne Wind Turbine will be relocated from
Delta Junction to a diesel-powered remote village upon
evaluation and review of potential candidate sites.
9 Oceana In-Stream
Hydrokinetic Device
Evaluation
664,710.00$ 566,235.00$ 1,230,945.00$ 654,349.90$ Oceana Energy
Company
Deployment of the Oceana hydrokinetic device at the Alaska
Hydrokinetic Research Center test site in the Tanana River.
The project objectives are to demonstrate the performance of
the Oceana device in Alaskan rivers and its ability to
withstand environmental hazards including surface and
suspended debris and abrasion. The project will include two
seasons of testing in the Tanana River. Initially, the Oceana
device will be redesigned, fabricated, and tested at the David
Taylor Testing Basin in Maryland. Performance data from the
testing basin will be used for baseline comparison with
subsequent testing in the Tanana River. OEC and project
partners will design a mounting and lowering-raising
mechanism that will connect the device to the barge and
lower the device into the water for testing in the Tanana River.
10 RivGen Power
System
Commercialization
Project
805,545.00$ 686,205.00$ 1,491,750.00$ 627,705.85$ ORPC Alaska,
LLC
RivGen™ Power System Commercialization Project –
Demonstration Phase (RivGen™ Project). Project will consist
of device testing and demonstration. Device testing will
occur in Cook Inlet, near the town of Nikiski, Alaska; adjacent
to the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation(ASRC) Rig Tenders
Dock. Demonstration will occur in the Village of Igiugig; at
and enroute to the Kvichak River. This project will be the first
installation of ORPC technology in Alaska and is a crucial step
in commercializing the technology for remote river sites,
providing a new energy source for rural Alaskan
communities.
11 Small Community
Self-Regulating Grid
266,443.48$ 199,190.52$ 465,634.00$ 20,000.00$ Intelligent
Energy Systems
Intelligent Energy Systems (IES) will demonstrate a distributed
intelligent load control as a low cost method of facilitating
increased renewable penetration on isolated grids. The project
will create a frequency controlled system using residential
electric thermal devices (30 units) and one 3-phase balancing
unit as a load regulation device for the high-penetration wind-
diesel system in the village of Tuntutuliak. The project will
consist of three primary phases: (1) controller upgrades, (2)
baseline system assessment, and (3) field installation and
monitoring.
Summary of Grants Awarded under EETF Program
Alaska Energy Authority Page 5 of 6
Appendix A: EEFT Projects Summary (Continued)
No Project Name State Funds Fed Funds State + Fed Total Grantee Match Grantee Project Description
12 Wind-Diesel Battery
Hybrid for
Kwigillingok
553,905.00$ 471,845.00$ 1,025,750.00$ 30,000.00$ Intelligent
Energy Systems
Intelligent Energy Systems (IES) will demonstrate use of ABB
smart inverters and high performance vehicle-format lithium
ion batteries to provide short term (< 1/4 hour) of energy
storage in the Kwigillingok High Penetration Wind System.
The addition of battery energy storage will enable both
passive and dynamic operating modes and allow extended
periods of diesel-off operation. By adding battery energy
storage to the wind diesel system, the project will accomplish
three objectives: 1. The implementation and evaluation of
power management methods that optimize the way the wind,
diesel generators and batteries partition power between
various components. 2. To evaluate the impact of varying
battery size and capacity on the performance and efficiency
of various wind and diesel power management methods. 3.
To evaluate operating mode trades-offs based on
comparative cost savings.
13 BRI Cylo-Turbine
Energy Production
393,460.00$ 335,169.00$ 728,629.00$ 311,458.06$ BRI Cyclo-
Turbine Energy
Production
Boschma Research, Inc. (BRI) will deploy a Cycle-Turbine
RISEC device equipped with a debris and fish guard and flow
accelerator in the Kvichak River at the community of lgiugig.
The objectives of the project are to demonstrate the power
generation performance of the device in an Alaskan river, to
demonstrate successful use of the fish and debris guard, and
to demonstrate successful operational procedures for river
bottom-mounted deployments. Device fabrication and pre-
deployment test will be conducted in the Tennessee River. on
a BRI research vessel. Following successful pre-deployment,
the unit will be transported to Alaska.
14 High Efficiency
Diesel Electric
Generator Set
365,854.00$ 311,654.00$ 677,508.00$ 75,322.28$ Marsh Creek,
LLC
Marsh Creek will demonstrate a method of improving fuel
efficiency of a diesel-electric generator set by allowing the
diesel engine to operate at significantly lower rotational speed
when power demand decreases. A permanent magnet
coupling developed by the partner company, Flux Drive Inc.,
will be used for implementing controlled coupling between
the diesel engine and electric generator which will allow
maintaining fixed rotational speed of the electric generator at
various diesel engine rotational speeds.
15 Arctic Field Testing
of the Eocycle EO-
25/12 Wind Turbine
153,815.24$ 131,027.80$ 284,843.04$ 55,000.00$ Northwest Arctic
Borough
Demonstrate the installation and operation of the Eocycle EO-
25/12 25 kW wind turbine in an arctic environment in
Kotzebue. There are three primary objectives of the project: 1.
Demonstrate survivability and successful operation in arctic
temperatures 2. Verify the turbine's power curve 3.
Demonstrate use of the towers tilt-up monopole tower for
crane-less installation
16 Application of
Composite
Flywheels
363,150.00$ 309,350.00$ 672,500.00$ 530,611.00$ Hatch
Associates
Consultants Inc.
The Williams Magnetic Loaded Composite (MLC) High Power
Flywheel (Williams Composite Flywheel) will be tested at the
wind-diesel hybrid applications lab at the University of Alaska
Fairbanks. The Control Platform will be primarily developed,
simulated, and implemented at Hatch offices in Niagara Falls
and Mississauga. Testing of the controls and performance
monitoring of the combined system will be done at the UAF.
A conceptual integration study will be performed by
developing models of the micro-grid to estimate diesel fuel
savings using micro-grids operation simulators and
investigate dynamic voltage/frequency disturbances of the
micro-grid using SimPowerSystems (SPS) blockset under
MATLAB / Simulink. This will help determine preliminary
parameters for incorporating the flywheel with the control
system and assess its performance.
Summary of Grants Awarded under EETF Program
Alaska Energy Authority Page 6 of 6
Appendix A: EEFT Projects Summary (Continued)
No Project Name State Funds Fed Funds State + Fed Total Grantee Match Grantee Project Description
17 Multi-Stage
Flywheel/Battery
Energy Storage
System
720,000.00$ -$ 720,000.00$ 2,596,271.36$ Chugach Electric
Association, Inc.
CEA design, install, and operate a 300 kW to 1 MW grid-
connected scalable multi-stage energy storage system
consisting of two flywheels and a battery system. The system
will include a first stage response flywheel component and
second stage response battery component. The system will be
installed and operated at CEA's International substation. The
objective of the demonstration project is to document
installation and operational costs of a scaled energy storage
system, document performance of the system under various
operating scenarios, establish a model that can inform design
of a full scale system
18 Trans-Critical CO2
Heat Pump System
537,560.00$ -$ 537,560.00$ 120,071.01$ Alaska Sealife
Center
ASLC will design, construct, and demonstrate an 80-100 ton
capacity CO2 heat pump system to serve the building's
medium temperature hydronic heating loop. The heating
loop is currently served by a 500 kW electric boiler; boiler use
will be partially offset by the heat pump system but is not
expected to be completely displaced. The objective of the
demonstration project is to document the efficiency of the
CO2 heat pump system and its ability to satisfy medium
temperature heating demand.
19 Air Source Heat
Pump Potential in
Alaska
67,224.20$ -$ 67,224.20$ 25,560.73$ Cold Climate
Housing
Research Center
CCHRC will document the performance characteristics of air
source heat pumps in several Alaska locations and to identify
limiting climatic conditions for their use. Three air source heat
pumps will be instrumented for comprehensive performance
monitoring which will run over the course of the 2014-2015
winter heating season. The three units selected for monitoring
are a residential air-to-water system in Juneau, a commercial
ductless system in Wrangell, and a residential ductless system
in Dillingham. An additional 20-30 systems will be selected for
more basic monitoring (electrical consumption, climatic
conditions, and user experience).
20 St. Paul Flywheel 274,005.46$ -$ 274,005.46$ 104,432.85$ TDX Corporation TDX Corp will design, install, and operate a 160 kW /30 kWh
flywheel energy storage system that will be integrated with
the existing wind diesel generating plant at the POSS camp
facility in St Paul. The objective of the demonstration project
is to develop and validate a model of the electrical system
with flywheel energy storage, document installation and
operational costs of the flywheel energy storage system,
determine the optimum control method for the system, and
document performance of the system under various
operating scenarios, including diesels off operation.
21 Grid Bridging
System Research
and Development
125,000.00$ 125,000.00$ 250,000.00$ 242,248.00$ Alaska Village
Electric
Cooperative
This project will develop design specifications, sizing tools,
economic assessments, procurement documents, and
implementation and verification of a Grid Bridging System
(GBS). AVEC will partner with ACEP for this demonstration
project utilizing their expertise in developing technical and
economic evaluation tools, refining specifications for GBS
hardware and devising performance testing specifications, as
well as performing and analyzing the testing once the
equipment is received in their PSI lab. NRECA will also
collaborate on technical research through their highly
respected Cooperative Research Network program. The GBS
envisioned in this project is a short duration, fast acting
energy store with high cycle life. The basic requirements for
the device are that it would absorb and return energy to an
electrical grid in order to maintain power quality within
specified ranges for voltage, and frequency, and in the event
of precipitous loss of generation, it would support the grid
completely, forming the grid as a static synchronous
generator, long enough to bring additional generation on
line. The deployment of such a machine on isolated grids
with highly variable renewable generation would allow a
reduction in renewable curtailment by providing a buffer for
power variations and would allow a reduction in "spinning
reserve" by allowing time for traditional generation sources to
ramp-up and come on-line.
TOTAL 5,871,896.42$ 3,682,747.39$ 9,554,643.81$ 6,169,212.96$
Summary of Grants Awarded under EETF Program