This page aims to help you find the resources you are looking for. Visit our home page to learn about our mission and leadership and to read our blogs. Find Arctic-related publications here. 

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  • If you are seeking open funding opportunities, see our funding highlights page.
  • If you are seeking information about DOE-funded projects in Alaska, see our searchable database
  • If you are seeking information about projects in Alaska funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, visit the GSA map dashboard.

 

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Learn About DOE's Projects

ARENA

The Arctic Remote Energy Networks Academy (ARENA) is a unique circumpolar knowledge sharing program about isolated power systems integration held in partnership with Canada, Gwich’in Council International, the U.S. and Iceland. ARENA is designed specifically for individuals living and working in remote circumpolar Arctic communities.

Website: https://arena.alaska.edu/

Combining visits to communities and participant knowledge exchanges with presentations and laboratory demonstrations, ARENA connects current and emerging energy professionals with hands-on learning experiences, mentors, and project development leaders from throughout the circumpolar north. 

In 2017, ARENA was piloted as a project endorsed by the Arctic Council's Sustainable Development Working Group. The United States, Canada, Finland, Iceland, Gwich'in Council International, and the Aleut International Association co-led the program.

The multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer (MFRSR) measures global and diffuse components of solar irradiance.     The third ARM Mobile Facility (AMF3) at Oliktok Point, Alaska records continuous measurements of clouds, aerosols, precipitation, energy and other meteorological variables using an array of different instruments.
The multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer (MFRSR) measures global and diffuse components of solar irradiance. The third ARM Mobile Facility (AMF3) at Oliktok Point, Alaska records continuous measurements of clouds, aerosols, precipitation, energy

The North Slope of Alaska (NSA) atmospheric observatory provides comprehensive data about cloud and radiative processes at high latitudes.

The NSA is a focal point for atmospheric and ecological research activity in the Arctic. Scientists use data from the NSA to improve the representation of high-latitude cloud and radiation processes in earth system models.

Website: https://www.arm.gov/capabilities/observatories/nsa

In an area known as the “top of the world,” the NSA central facility at Utqiaġvik has hosted research near the coast of the Arctic Ocean since 1997. Smaller instrumented sites called extended facilities are located near the central facility.

Chariot Alaska
Amchitka AK

Chariot, Alaska

The DOE Office of Legacy Management assumed responsibility for long-term surveillance and maintenance at the Chariot site in 2008. The Chariot site (a Nevada Offsite) requires routine inspections, records-related activities, and stakeholder support. For more information about the Chariot site, view the fact sheet.

Chariot was identified as a potential location to excavate a harbor using a series of nuclear explosions. Work at the Project Chariot site was canceled because of strong public opposition. No nuclear explosions were conducted at the site and no nuclear devices were ever brought to the site.

Amchitka, Alaska

The DOE Office of Legacy Management assumed responsibility for all activities associated with subsurface completion and long-term surveillance and maintenance at the Amchitka site in 2008. The Amchitka site (a Nevada Offsite) requires records-related activities, stakeholder support, and an inspection and maintenance trip every 5 years. For more information about the Amchitka site, view the fact sheet.

 

Review the Office of Legacy Management's Site Management Report for 2022 to get detailed updates.

Authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and administered through the Grid Deployment Office (GDO), the Grid Resilience State and Tribal Formula Grants program is designed to strengthen and modernize America’s power grid against wildfires, extreme weather, and other natural disasters that are exacerbated by the climate crisis. 

The program will distribute funding to states, territories, and federally recognized Indian tribes, including Alaska Native Regional Corporations and Alaska Native Village Corporations, over five years based on a formula that includes factors such as population size, land area, probability and severity of disruptive events, and a locality’s historical expenditures on mitigation efforts. The states, territories, and tribes will then award these funds to a diverse set of projects, with priority given to efforts that generate the greatest community benefit providing clean, affordable, and reliable energy.

Awardees include

Website: /gdo/grid-resilience-statetribal-formula-grant-program

The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) formula program will provide $5 billion over five years for states to build electric vehicle service equipment (EVSE) charging stations along highway corridors. NEVI goals for the EVSE network include being reliable, affordable, equitable, and seamless between states and networks while reducing emissions and increasing clean air. Over the next five years, Alaska will receive more than $52 million from the NEVI Formula Program.

Get more info from the Alaska Energy Authority website.

CCHRC staff stand with a local crew building a demonstration home in Mertarvik, Alaska.
Aaron Cooke, center, stands with a local crew building a demonstration home in Mertarvik, Alaska
Molly Rettig, NREL

In 2020, the Cold Climate Housing Research Center in Fairbanks, Alaska, joined NREL to advance energy efficiency and renewable energy in extreme climates, address Arctic and climate-threatened communities, and expand NREL's wealth of experience in building technologies. 

Housed in the farthest-north LEED Platinum building in the world, NREL Alaska's facilities showcase clean energy technologies such as solar, geothermal, air source heat pumps, biomass, and thermal storage. Alaska's extreme climate—combined with its remote communities, lack of infrastructure, and abundant renewable resources—offers tremendous opportunities to solve the sustainability challenges faced by the rest of the world.

NREL's Alaska Campus focus is on the built environment and includes building science research, sustainable home design, and social and economic research. Central to its mission is engaging with local and Indigenous people to incorporate traditional knowledge into technology solutions.

Thousands of qualified Alaskans have received free home weatherization in order to bring their homes up to safe, healthy and energy-efficient standards.
Weatherization adds years of life to buildings in Alaska's harsh arctic climate. Weatherization also brings the benefit of energy conservation, saving homeowners on their previous heating bills.

Website: http://www.alaskacdc.org/weatherization-assistance-program.html


The Weatherization Assistance Program is available to renters and homeowners throughout the state. A house may be weatherized one time after April 2008, and eligibility is determined by the residents' combined income and household size. Homes weatherized before April, 2008 may be
​re-weatherized. 

IEI winners
The six winning teams celebrate the end of the Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize’s Phase 2 after the PITCH event at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado.
Werner Slocum, National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The Inclusive Energy Innovation Prize seeks to foster a just and equitable clean energy future by investing in community-led innovation and entrepreneurship programs in areas historically underserved by federal funding. This prize is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 initiative to deliver at least 40% of the overall benefits from certain federal investments in clean energy to disadvantaged communities. The winning teams in this first-of-its-kind competition will receive $250,000 each for their entrepreneurship, job-training, mentorship, and other solutions to expand clean energy and economic opportunities in underserved communities. Tebughna Sunshine from Anchorage was one of the winning teams.

Tebughna Sunshine (Anchorage, Alaska) The Tebughna Foundation serves the Dena’ina Athabascan tribal community of the Native Village of Tyonek. This project is using traditional principles of land stewardship for Alaska Native communities to create and identify technical assistance resources for renewable energy technologies and pilot a solar array at Tyonek’s tribal center. The team also plans to create an accessible handbook for deploying equitable clean energy in Alaska Native Villages.

INL RADIANCE

Idaho National Laboratory Power and Energy Systems researchers helped build a system to maintain and restore power after a catastrophic event or a cyberattack.

Fact Sheet: https://inl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/RADIANCE-Project.pdf

Cordova is a small fishing community on Prince William Sound. The only way to get there is by plane or boat. The town’s electrical grid is powered by a mix of hydroelectric, diesel and solar power and has no physical connection to the outside world, leaving it especially vulnerable to natural disasters. In the case of a catastrophic event, such as the Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, Cordova might be completely cut off. 

The installation of a self-healing microgrid is enhancing grid resilience in the remote village of Cordova, Alaska. Idaho National Laboratory Power and Energy Systems researchers helped design and demonstrate the system, which is built to maintain and restore power after a catastrophic event or a cyberattack.

The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE Arctic) is a 10-year project run by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2012—2022) to improve predictive understanding of carbon (C)-rich Arctic system processes and feedbacks to climate. This is achieved through experiments, observations, and synthesis of existing datasets that strategically inform model process representation and parameterization, and that enhance the knowledge base required for model initialization, calibration, and evaluation.

Website: https://ngee-arctic.ornl.gov/summary

Visit the website to read about the three phases of this project.

C2C: Clean Energy to Communities U.S. Department of Energy

The Clean Energy to Communities (C2C) program connects local governments, electric utilities, community-based groups, and others with experts from across the DOE national laboratory complex and their customized, cutting-edge analysis. Through unbiased technical support to communities across the country, C2C accelerates the deployment of clean energy systems that are reflective of local and regional priorities.

Website: /eere/clean-energy-communities-program

C2C provides three levels of engagement:

  • In-depth technical partnerships: Multi-year partnerships that provide cross-sector modeling, analysis, and validation, paired with direct funding to help 4-5* selected teams of local governments, electric utilities, and community-based organizations reach their goals and/or overcome specific challenges. 
  • Peer-learning cohorts: Small groups of local governments, electric utilities, or community-based organizations that meet regularly for approximately 6 months to learn from each other and lab experts in a collaborative environment to develop program proposals, action plans, strategies, and/or best practices on a pre-determined clean energy topic. Cohorts will include approximately 100* communities total.
  • Expert match: Short-term assistance (40-60 hours) with one or more technical experts to help address near-term clean energy questions or challenges for up to 200* communities.

Sentinel 2 satellite image acquired on June 6, 2018 of the north slope of Alaska. The white box highlights the Prudhoe Bay region on the banks of the Sagavanirktok River.
Sentinel 2 satellite image acquired on June 6, 2018 of the north slope of Alaska. The white box highlights the Prudhoe Bay region on the banks of the Sagavanirktok River.

Integrating leading expertise and data resources across the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) complex, a new research project—the Interdisciplinary Research for Arctic Coastal Environments (InteRFACE)—is designed to improve fundamental understanding of change in arctic coastal systems.

Website: https://climatemodeling.science.energy.gov/projects/interface-interdisciplinary-research-arctic-coastal-environments

The project spans DOE’s modeling (Regional and Global Model Analysis, Earth System Model Development, and Multisector Dynamics) and Data Management programs. InteRFACE is a partnership between Los Alamos National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and researchers at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Through inter-agency collaborations and workshops, InteRFACE will help integrate ongoing and proposed research investments in arctic marine biogeochemistry, shipping, and coastal change.

The Fulbright Arctic Initiative brings together a network of scholars, professionals and applied researchers from the United States, Canada, the Kingdom of Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden for a series of three seminar meetings and a Fulbright exchange experience to address key research and policy questions related to creating a secure and sustainable Arctic.

Website: https://fulbrightscholars.org/arctic

The scholars stimulate international research collaboration on Arctic issues while increasing mutual understanding between people of the United States and member countries of the Arctic Council. Using a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach, the Fulbright Arctic Initiative addresses public-policy research questions relevant to Arctic nations’ shared challenges and opportunities.  

DOE Boost Partnership

DOE Boost is a partnership between Sandia National Laboratories and FedTech that brings national labs, startups, academia, and entrepreneurs together to find solutions to big community-based energy challenges. DOE Boost Platform is funded by DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund administered by Office of Technology Transitions.

Website: https://www.boostplatform.org/

The DOE Boost platform, powered by FedTech, draws existing startups and companies who will investigate and build new ventures around technologies drawn from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories.

Program Dates:

  • Applications close June 30th.
  • Bootcamp: Saturday, Aug 5, 2023 (1/2 day)
  • Phase I: Tuesdays, Aug 8 - Oct 3 (8 weeks)
  • Phase II: Tuesdays, Oct 10 - Nov 28 (8 weeks)
  • Industry Showcase: Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 (1/2 day)

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Energy Transitions Initiative Partnership Project (ETIPP) works alongside remote and island communities seeking to transform their energy systems and increase energy resilience. Island and remote communities have unique physical features that fundamentally shape what energy options they have available. For many of these communities, access to resilient, affordable, sustainable, and clean energy resources is a priority. ETIPP helps communities to assess and advance the solutions that best meet their needs.

Website: /eere/about-energy-transitions-initiative-partnership-project

Here's some examples of current Alaska project participants:

Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA), Alaska

The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) represents a group of small-boat commercial fishermen in Sitka, Alaska, who work to sustainably harvest halibut, sablefish, and rockfish. ALFA teamed up with ETIPP to understand how to reduce fuel consumption, and find paths toward converting two of its fishing vessels to hybrid power. Ultimately the association hopes to reduce fuel costs and consumption by converting its fleet from diesel to carbon-free power. Learn more about how ETIPP is helping ALFA reduce its carbon emissions.

Ouzinkie, Alaska

Ouzinkie, Alaska—a remote community of about 200 people in the Kodiak Archipelago—has relied on power from diesel generators and a hydroelectric turbine that will need to be replaced in the coming years. The community partnered with ETIPP researchers to better understand how to reduce its reliance on diesel fuel and incorporate renewable energy technologies into its power system. Through ETIPP, Ouzinkie identified potential new technologies to supplement its power generation, as well as options for improving the reliability of its existing electricity system. Learn more about Ouzinkie’s work with ETIPP .

Sitka, Alaska

Sitka, Alaska, is an island town of about 8,500 residents in southeast Alaska. Seasonal lake hydropower and a diesel microgrid power Sitka, where high heating requirements, intensive hospital activities, and the seasonal fishing industry drive energy demands. Sitka partnered with ETIPP to identify opportunities for grid decarbonization and clean energy generation that would be cost-efficient and reliable. ETIPP developed a model for the Sitka grid, assessing energy potential from solar, wind, and ocean sources, and evaluating green energy export options to help Sitka reduce its carbon footprint and optimize its microgrid without negative consequences for ratepayers. Learn more about ETIPP’s work in Sitka.

ETIPP communities are competitively selected to participate, with an anticipated 12- to 18-month project per community.

Aaron Cooke, NREL

The Embassy Science Fellows Program provides U.S. embassies access to the expertise of U.S. government officers in science and technology fields.

The Arctic Energy Office is currently funding an Embassy Science Fellow placed in Iceland. Learn about his work in our recent blog.

Website: https://www.state.gov/programs-office-of-science-and-technology-cooperation/embassy-science-fellows-program/

  • U.S. embassies and consulates request Fellows to assist on science, technology, environment, health, or innovation issues. They recommend projects that will have significant positive impact on the national security and economic prosperity of the United States, and strengthen international cooperation with partners to preserve American dominance in key sectors of interest.
  • The work of Embassy Science Fellows has contributed to policy development and collaboration with host governments, universities and other organizations.
  • The Program is active throughout the world, and in 2018 received 127 technical proposals from 70 U.S. embassies and consulates.

The Energy Program for Innovation Clusters (EPIC) Prize recognizes the nation's most innovative incubators. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions (OTT), the EPIC Prize awards cash prizes to regional incubator teams that submit the most creative and impactful plans, then implement those plans to develop strong clusters, connections, and support for energy startups and entrepreneurs. 

Website: /technologytransitions/energy-program-innovation-clusters

 

The Arctic Energy Office has invested in a one-year project to enhance the U.S. Department of Energy's ability to analyze structures in Alaska through the integration of residential energy audit data from the Alaska Retrofit Information System (ARIS) database managed by Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) into the ResStock building database, which is managed the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. At the conclusion of this period of performance, the DOE will have better residential energy information and analysis capability. Contact Arctic.Energy@hq.doe.gov with any questions about this project.

Project: "Pumped thermal energy stOarge in ALaska Railbelt (POLAR)", in Healy, Alaska. 

Supplying reliable electricity to residents and businesses in Healy, Alaska presents challenges due to its remote location and extreme weather. Currently the area is served by a coal-fired power plant, one unit of which is slated for retirement. This LDES project pairs with planned wind power development in the region to demonstrate LDES firming renewable power at the grid scale while also providing enhanced grid resiliency. This site location also provides a unique opportunity to demonstrate the viability of high-temperature long-duration energy storage in a cold climate. This project will develop and deploy a Pumped Thermal Energy Storage (PTES) system to assist in local and regional grid resiliency and stability, regional carbon footprint reduction, and improved reliability of electricity in Alaska’s Railbelt region, while demonstrating LDES’s support of renewable energy. Project benefits would also flow indirectly to Indigenous Alaskans in underserved communities, such as the North Slope Borough. 

This project was created by a partnership between Westinghouse Electric Company LLC and Echogen by combining technology components from each partner to create a PTES system. In the system, a heat pump draws electricity from the power grid and converts the electricity into heat stored in inexpensive concrete blocks. This stored energy is then converted back into electricity using a heat engine. The PTES system also utilizes a low-cost ice-based low temperature reservoir.

Construction will be led by Houston Contracting Company, a prominent union contractor in Alaska, as well as a part of Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, an Alaska Native Corporation. Golden Valley Electric Association has created a strategic generation plan for achieving decarbonization objectives while reducing electricity costs and maintaining the stability and security of the electrical grid in Alaska. This project also includes EPRI, the Electric Power Research Institute, and Shell.  

Learn more: /oced/long-duration-energy-storage-demonstrations-projects-selections-award-negotiations

People in Power (PIP) is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy’s Arctic Energy Office, Denali Commission and REAP that works to improve performance at small, independent electric utilities in rural Alaska through targeted staff training.

People in Power (PIP) is a partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy’s Arctic Energy OfficeDenali Commission and REAP that works to improve performance at small, independent electric utilities in rural Alaska through targeted staff training.

Independent electric utilities are the lifeblood of rural Alaska. They keep power flowing to village services and homes in the most challenging conditions. With thin margins and few employees, opportunities for regular training and continuing education are often difficult to find.

PIP develops sustainable and responsive training frameworks that build local capacity and support individual utilities’ needs. The program focuses on assessing and improving performance in four key utility occupational areas that are critical for ensuring a community’s energy resilience: 

  • Governance
  • Management
  • Operations
  • Clerical

After researching, collecting data and meeting with local community stakeholders, PIP sets up custom training schedules and facilitates training delivery for partner utilities. Training sessions are both remote and in-person, in collaboration with state-wide and regional training partners.

Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTACs)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) selected 17 Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (EJ TCTACs) in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy that will receive $177 million to help underserved and overburdened communities across the country access funds from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, including historic investments to advance environmental justice.

The Willamette Partnership, a nonprofit, received $10,000,000 to serve as the Northwestern Environmental and Energy Justice TCTAC, serving EPA Region 10 (AK, ID, OR, WA, and 271 native tribes).

The Northwestern Environmental and Energy Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center (TCTAC) team believes that centering values of self-determination, equity, intergenerational Indigenous cultural and ceremonial practices, traditional ecological knowledge, natural resource security, stewardship, resilience, education, and community connection1 provide a platform from which communities can heal, build power, and emerge toward futures in which everyone and mother earth thrives–no exceptions. The TCTAC will focus on underserved communities and where environmental, health, and economic burdens and capacity constraints co-occur–including Tribal and Indigenous communities, Black, Latinx, immigrant, and disabilities communities, especially in remote and rural areas. 

Read more here.

GEOTHERMICA member countries.

GEOTHERMICA is a transnational consortium that combines financial resources and research expertise to demonstrate and validate novel concepts in geothermal energy use, and the U.S. Department of Energy's engagement is managed through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Geothermal Technologies Office. 

Through this consortium, the U.S. geothermal community is able to collaborate directly with European partners on shared research projects that leverage valuable data, field site access, and extensive expertise in geothermal research and development. European researchers will likewise benefit from shared learning with American counterparts.

The United States, Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, Germany, France, Turkey, Portugal, Ireland, Romania, Italy, and Slovenia are part of GEOTHERMICA, working collectively to optimize geothermal direct-use and power generation, including development of innovative integrated and combined systems.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Sea Grant College Program, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Water Power Technologies Office, is supporting the Alaska Sea Grant, a project that will that will examine how adoption of ocean renewable energy could support sustainable energy systems. 

Sea Grant and DOE selected and recommended three projects for a total of $800,000 in funding to conduct community engagement activities that will help illuminate community values, perceptions, and cultural contexts around energy innovation and resilience. Beyond Alaska Sea Grant, there are also funded projects in Guam and Hawaii. 

Alaska Sea Grant will assess the necessary workforce qualifications for maintaining renewable energy systems and available technical training programs in remote coastal villages and create informational materials with partners for communities to understand the various renewable energy options that can meet the challenges of Alaska’s diverse environment. The project, A Climate Ready Workforce for Coastal Alaska, will evaluate programs available across Alaska to assess the necessary qualifications for maintaining renewable energy systems and available technical training programs, and make recommendations for additional training opportunities where the training opportunities should be located to ensure a locally resourced workforce, and potential funding sources to build training programs. The project will also create informational materials with partners for communities to understand the various renewable energy options that can meet the challenges of Alaska's diverse environment. The goal is a climate-ready, locally sourced workforce serving the communities where these workers reside with high-paying jobs in rural communities in Alaska. Funding amount: $200,000.

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Learn About Careers at the Dept. of Energy

DOE is hiring! The Clean Energy Corps is for first-time job seekers, executives, and everyone in between seeking an impactful career supercharging the clean energy revolution. DOE is collecting resumes for interested candidates via our Applicant Portal, a streamlined application process to align your talents to your passion. Apply today!

Other opportunities in DOE: If you are interested in working at DOE or at a national lab, check one of the links below for clean energy-related positions or internships.

 

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