Alaska's renewable energy potential.

Abstract

This paper delivers a brief survey of renewable energy technologies applicable to Alaska's climate, latitude, geography, and geology. We first identify Alaska's natural renewable energy resources and which renewable energy technologies would be most productive. We survey the current state of renewable energy technologies and research efforts within the U.S. and, where appropriate, internationally. We also present information on the current state of Alaska's renewable energy assets, incentives, and commercial enterprises. Finally, we describe places where research efforts at Sandia National Laboratories could assist the state of Alaska with its renewable energy technology investment efforts. 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThis report was compiled from many sources. Where a specific report was directly quoted, the citation has been provided. However, the body of this report summarizes and describes research conducted worldwide. The description contained herein would not be possible absent the vast research efforts worldwide and the efforts of those people and organizations in making their results available to all. CONTENTS TABLES Alaska's Renewable Energy PotentialMany renewable-energy (RE) resources can be grouped into five categories, based on the technology used to extract, capture, or exploit them. The categories are solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, and hydropower. For Alaska, the most applicable RE technologies are wind, geothermal, and hydropower (both inland/river hydropower and ocean/tidal power).We have also identified leading institutions where RE research is underway today around the world and their general areas of specialty. This list could be used as a basis for developing a workshop on this topic and inviting some of the world's foremost researchers to Alaska. Who Are the Research Leaders?A large body of international research exists on RE and energy conservation in cold-climate areas. Because the German government significantly subsidizes RE and preferentially solar power (~40¢/kWh for 20 years), a great deal of funding is available for research there. Canada also has a well-developed research base in cold-climate RE and energy conservation. In the U.S., Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, are recognized as national leaders in RE research. What Are the Applicable Technologies?The RE resource maps for Alaska at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) program's Web site † do not show a large potential for solar power. Most of Alaska receives an annual average of 2000-3000 Whr/m 2 per day. Additionally, the long periods of dark or near dark further detract from this limited resource's annual reliability. The two methods for collecting solar thermal energy, light concentrators and using closedloop water pipes, are not viable; the sun's energy at the Earth's surface is too weak to allow concentrators to be effective and the ambient temperature is too often too low to prevent the water pipes ...