Assessment of River Hydrokinetic Energy Technologies for Isolated Remote Alaska Communities - Impacts on Micro-Scale Food, Energy, and Water System Infrastructure Loads

Alaska's hydrokinetic energy potential represents roughly 40% of the US river current energy. A number of isolated microgrids in Alaska already employ small run-of-river and in-river hydrokinetic energy projects. These hydrokinetic projects present unique challenges in the production and dispatch of hydroelectric power, particularly when it comes to optimizing the delivery of renewable energy resources to food, energy, and water (FEW) infrastructure loads. This is primarily due to the lack of adequate energy storage units that can accommodate excess hydro (river) power during times of low energy demand. During off peak demand hours, excess hydro power has to be curtailed by either diverting excess power to a dump load (in-river systems) or diverting water away from the turbines (run-of-river systems).

As a means to investigate the synergies and tradeoffs between hydrokinetic power and the downstream food and water infrastructure loads in remote Alaska communities, the connections between the FEW components in two communities, Cordova and Igiugig, that employ run-of-river and in-river, respectively, are modeled and analyzed. This analysis includes; 1) assessing the potentially available hydro power from the rivers, 2) making use of excess renewable power by employing dispatchable loads and energy storage, 3) investigating the impacts of hydrokinetic power on food and water system loads, and 4) calculating the amount of diesel fuel displaced. The food and water system loads include water extraction and delivery, water heating, wastewater reuse, seafood processing plants, greenhouses, and cold storage units. The results provide insights on how hydrokinetic power can be optimally utilized in serving the aforementioned food and water system loads.