Kipnuk Light Plant – 2021 Project

Background

Kipnuk has a wind-heat system comprised of a diesel-generator power plant and six 95-kW wind turbines that capture energy from the wind rolling over the flat, coastal landscape. In addition to using wind power for lighting, Kipnuk also uses wind power for heating, having installed electric thermal storage units throughout the Village. A heat-recovery loop heats the power plant and Qanganak Tribal Council Building.

Project Objectives

KLP will purchase, install, and integrate a 500-kW/677-kWh BESS into its stand-alone community wind diesel grid. The HOMER (Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources) analysis projects the BESS will enable 5,500 hours of diesel-off/wind-only operations. This will increase the amount of displaced fuel by approximately 80%, from 41,858 gallons annually without the BESS to approximately 76,002 gallons with it, when compared to the current wind-diesel system design. The long-term goal of the Native Village of Kipnuk and its tribally owned utility, KLP, is to displace approximately 50% of diesel fuel use by 2030 relative to the consumption level in 2012, when all power was generated from diesel.

The objective of this BESS project is to increase the Tribe’s resilience by providing up to 3 hours of nonfuel emergency power to four critical tribal facilities and approximately 190 homes. The Village typically experiences six outages at 2 hours each, and should an outage occur during the summer, the BESS can provide emergency power to the critical facilities as well as power for the multiple freezers and refrigerators in each household to ensure preservation of subsistence foods and harvest. This emergency power will provide all Kipnuk tribal members with the ability to ensure the safety of their primary food sources from their subsistence activities.

In addition, the BESS will increase winter fuel displacement from wind power, enabling the community to have sufficient fuel to make it through the winter without emergency fuel deliveries by air transport, and providing a nondiesel supply of critical bridge fuel between barge deliveries. The BESS grid will also provide a platform for increasing future wind and solar energy contributions.

Project Scope

KLP staff have identified a vendor with proven experience working on this type of project in remote communities in this region of Alaska. These project team members are highly qualified; experienced with the technology; and familiar with the expected weather, logistics, construction methods, wind and energy storage technologies, working conditions, the community of Kipnuk, and the specifics of the Kipnuk Light Plant and its existing wind-diesel hybrid system.

Technical issues regarding integration, execution, and installation have been addressed in other projects in the region and are reflected in the current project plan. The method of integration and system integrators have been identified. The BESS is specifically designed and packaged for grid support. Although this system is different from previous approaches in which the power electronics and batteries were purchased and installed separately, the contractors are familiar with the system elements, including the selected power electronics, battery management systems, and communications and control integration.

The project will be managed by KLP through professional services agreements and specialty supply and installation subcontracts. Local labor will be used throughout the project, and KLP will also supplement contract compliance and administrative capabilities as required.

KLP’s vendor will provide a senior project manager (SPM). The SPM will be supported by a staff of technicians, application engineers, subcontractors, and administrators. The project’s effectiveness depends on strong organizational, coordination, and communication skills. The SPM will work closely with the Village of Kipnuk for all matters related to the scope, schedule, and commercial terms of the project. Together with the project team, KLP and the SPM will develop a final project implementation plan, which will be executed to comply with all requirements and expectations in accordance with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) guidelines.

The SPM will be responsible for meeting KLP’s technical objectives with respect to the project scope, budget, and schedule, as well as for ensuring the technical implementation and coordination across all project phases. The engineering team will provide the detailed design, implementation, and testing/commissioning of the system.

The project management team will work closely with the engineering team and subcontractors to develop and execute the project development plan, conduct commercial negotiations, and coordinate field activities to ensure compliance with system requirements.

Project Location

The Native Village of Kipnuk sits where the Kuguklik River makes a hairpin bend before it meets the Bering Sea in southwest Alaska. The BESS will be installed adjacent to the power plant on property owned by the Tribe. The plant has a waste heat recovery system that currently provides heat to the plant itself, as well as the tribal offices at the Qanganak Tribal Council Building.