Full Title: Integrating Renewable Energy:What You Need to Consider in Rural Alaska
Author(s): Alaska Center for Energy and Power
Publisher(s): Alaska Center for Energy and Power
Publication Date: June 6, 2021
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Many rural Alaska communities are interested in integrating locally available renewable energy resources into their electrical grids. This document provides general information to help communities understand the benefits and challenges of introducing renewable energy into an electrical grid, although communities will still need to consider their unique local factors when deciding whether renewable energy makes sense for them.
The cost of renewable energy generation devices has decreased significantly over the past decade, particularly solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, though wind turbine generators have seen cost reductions as well. This makes renewable energy systems an attractive option for consumers in remote areas operating with high energy costs. Don’t let the decreasing costs of renewable energy fool you — there can be hidden costs associated with integration.
Remote areas maximize the economic benefit of integrating renewable energy systems when they’re able to move entirely away from generators running on imported diesel fuel and remove the associated fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs of a generator apply whenever it is running; some maintenance needs to happen regularly no matter how much power is produced. Other fixed costs for electricity include those associated with the distribution network or billing. Variable costs change with the amount of power produced, such as fuel consumption. When renewable energy displaces only a small amount of diesel generation, the variable cost is lessened while some of the fixed costs remain. To reduce the fixed costs, the diesel generator must be shut off entirely. This can create a new set of challenges for a community not ready to pull the plug on diesel.