Cohort 1: Ouzinkie, Alaska

Ouzinkie, Alaska, aimed to update its integrated resource plan with technical assistance from the Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP).

Project Summary

Ouzinkie is a community located on Spruce Island, 10 miles north of Kodiak, Alaska, in an area of abundant renewable energy resources. The community has a long-term vision to reduce its dependency on diesel fuel and increase generation from renewable resources. The goals of this ETIPP technical assistance project were to update an integrated plan for improvements to the Ouzinkie power system to support transitions to a more renewably powered, reliable, and resilient system. The technical analysis was intended to help the community prioritize distributed energy resource investment projects and provide the documentation needed for future grant or loan applications.

Project Outcomes

The national laboratory researchers on the ETIPP team (from Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories) considered three new energy technologies for addition to the Ouzinkie system (wind, solar, and battery storage), as well as upgrades to the hydropower system. The team compiled data on each technology from a variety of data sources and used these data as inputs to an optimization model that determined the optimal size and location of resources needed to meet the hourly demand for electricity in Ouzinkie.

Key Takeaways

An “optimal” mix of energy resources ultimately depends on the goals and values of a community as well as access to funding to invest in new generating resources. The optimization model used in this technical assistance considered three goals for upgrading the power system:

1. No investment
2. Least cost
3. Adding a spinning reserve with battery storage to enhance reliability.

With the assumption that the existing hydroelectric system is repaired and operating, the project found optimal generation mixes for the three goal scenarios:

1. In the “no investment” scenario, the Ouzinkie community would make the planned improvements and repairs to the hydroelectric system and then continue to operate its electricity system as it currently does.
2. With the “least-cost” scenario, the addition of a wind turbine and some solar photovoltaic (PV) panels would greatly reduce the community’s use of diesel generators and thus reduce its fuel costs.
3. In the “spinning reserve” scenario, adding a battery to provide energy storage on the electricity system would allow for more wind and solar PV generation to be used, further decreasing the use of diesel fuel. The battery would also enhance system reliability by providing short-term, back-up energy in the event an energy source has an outage.

Opportunities and Impacts

The findings from this analysis, and the community’s preference for pursuing lower-cost options first, suggest the following priorities for implementation:

1. Complete the planned repairs and upgrades to the hydropower system
2. Design and install the planned enhanced controls for the hydropower generator
3. Collect detailed wind tower data for at least 1 year
4. Obtain funding to install a wind turbine
5. If additional power reliability or resource diversity is desired, obtain funding to install the battery system and the PV array.

Additional Information

Alaska Communities Selected for Clean Energy Solutions Pilot Project, Senator Lisa Murkowski Press Release (2021)

Two U.S. Department of Energy Awards To Support Remote and Island Communities Cover Hydropower, Hydro Review (2021)

University of Alaska, National Labs Help Alaskans Address Energy Needs, University of Alaska Fairbanks (2021)

Five Alaska Communities Chosen by U.S. Department of Energy To Target Energy Resilience Goals, Alaska Business (2021)