Bringing Renewable Energy to Alaskan Villages

Reader Contribution by David J. Hughes
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The Department of the Interior is proud of the work that has been done to exceed President Obama’s goal of approving more than 10,000 megawatts of utility-scale renewable energy projects on our public lands over the past four years. The President has asked us to double down, and issue permits for a total of 20,000 megawatts in renewable energy projects by 2020. It will be a challenge, but we will do it – knowing that supporting clean energy development drives our economy, cuts our carbon pollution, and reduces our reliance on foreign oil.

But it’s not just the big projects that are important. Working with key partners, the Department has also been developing an initiative aimed at deploying smaller-scale solar/diesel or wind/diesel hybrid projects in isolated, off-the-grid villages in places like remote Alaska and U.S. island territories. Through this initiative, which we call the “Remote Community Renewable Energy Partnership,” the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), working with the Department of the Interior and other partners, is designing a modular, expandable, and replicable smaller-scale renewable energy hybrid power system that will take many small Alaska Native villages off their sole dependence on expensive diesel power.

Over the next year or so, NREL hopes to complete the design phase for this project and then, with the help of interested businesses, philanthropists, and governments, we want to partner with willing villages and pilot test the new modular systems. 

This is a big idea:

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