Renewable Energy Integration in Alaska’s Remote Islanded Microgrids: Economic Drivers, Technical Strategies, Technological Niche Development, and Policy Implications

Alaska has over 200 communities operating remote islanded microgrids that are not connected to each other or to the North American electric grid. These communities range in size from a few dozen to a few thousand residents and rely heavily on fossil fuels-primarily imported diesel-to generate electricity. This has resulted in some of the highest energy costs in the nation (over $1/kWh in some locations) and a strong incentive to invest in renewable energy as a strategy for reducing these costs. This article explores technical challenges and associated mitigation strategies of renewable energy integration, including lessons learned from the implementation of over 70 renewable-diesel hybrid microgrids in Alaska utilizing a wide range of resource and technology solutions. This article also reviews the underlying socio-political and economic landscape that has allowed Alaska to emerge as an early adopter of microgrid-enabling technologies and includes a discussion of Alaska's energy programs and policies and how they impact project development. The results of this article show that the primary technical hurdles for renewable energy integration in Alaska's remote islanded microgrids include management of distributed energy resources and design for reliable and resilient operation with intermittent high-penetration renewable generation. Additionally, economic drivers include extremely high energy costs, a highly deregulated utility market with dozens of certificated utilities, state investment in infrastructure, and modest subsidies that create a technological niche where renewable energy projects are cost-competitive at current market prices. Many of the evolving technical strategies and lessons learned from renewable integration projects in Alaska's remote islanded microgrids could help inform project development in other markets, despite differences in climate and geography.