Nuvista Light and Electric Cooperative, Incorporated – 2019 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

Under the Kwethluk Battery Energy Storage Project, the joint venture between Nuvista Light & Electric Cooperative, Inc. (Nuvista), Kwethluk Inc., and the Organized Village of Kwethluk will install a fast-rechargeable battery energy storage system (BESS) with a power conversion capacity of 500 killowatts (kW) and an electrical energy storage capacity of 670 killowatt-hours (kWh) in the Kwethluk wind-diesel power system.

When fully charged, the BESS will be able to meet the peak load of the entire community at a rate of over 500 kW for more than 1 hour, or provide over 2.5 hours of restricted emergency power at the current average community load of 180 kW. Estimated savings from the battery is more than $60,000 annually, which translates to a potential lifetime value of more than $1 million.

This project is a joint venture between Nuvista, Kwethluk Inc., and the Organized Village of Kwethluk. Nuvista is a nonprofit cooperative that represents the Yukon-Kuskokwim (YK) Delta region in western Alaska with a mission of lowering the cost of electricity for its communities. In 2015, Nuvista was awarded a legislative grant from the state of Alaska to construct a wind project in a YK Delta community. Kwethluk was selected for a wind project after the state of Alaska conducted a wind study in the community. Kwethluk Inc. is the Alaska Native village corporation for Kwethluk, Alaska, and it is the owner of Kwethluk Power Company, the electric utility. The Organized Village of Kwethluk is the federally recognized Tribe representing Kwethluk.

Nuvista has funded the installation of three 100-kW wind turbines in Kwethluk. These machines are scheduled to be delivered and installed in May–June 2020. The wind turbines are to be spaced along the powerline adjacent to the access road to the airport on tribally owned land. The foundations for the turbines are planned to be installed in the fall/winter of 2019–2020 so the turbines can be installed shortly after the spring 2020 barge delivery.

This project will install an ABB E-Mesh PowerStore 500-kW/670-kWh BESS and integrate the BESS into Kwethluk’s stand-alone wind-diesel grid. The PowerStore is a predesigned battery energy storage and power conversion system packaged for grid support. The ABB E-Mesh will be integrated into the Kwethluk diesel power and distribution system using the proven control system and electrical and control designs used in similar projects in the region.

The project goal is to improve tribal energy resilience and energy security by providing a nonfuel method of meeting the critical loads of the Tribe during an emergency and reducing long-term dependence on fossil fuels using wind and solar. This goal will be accomplished through the integration of a fast-recharging lithium ion BESS, with grid forming capability with enough stored energy to meet the peak load of the community for at least 1 hour.

The amount energy stored in the BESS is sufficient to provide over 2.5 hours of restricted emergency power at the current average community load of 180 kW. During this time, the BESS will meet the critical loads of the community, which include providing housekeeping power to the diesel power station so that repairs may be made and providing electricity to operate lighting and heating systems in the tribal offices, the Head Start center, the clinic, the tribal store, and the water treatment facility. Should an outage occur during the summer, the BESS would provide a method of recharging freezers and refrigerators, which not only preserve critical medical supplies but also subsistence food.

The primary project objective and outcome is to provide a more secure, more resilient emergency power supply for critical tribal loads in Kwethluk. Secondarily, this project aims to provide a grid stabilization platform that will enable the tribally owned utility to increase the contribution of wind-generated power on the community grid first, and then solar photovoltaics.

Most importantly, for the community’s resilience, the battery could provide power to Kwethluk for 5–6 hours operating at minimum load. As a component of the larger wind-diesel project, the BESS will allow the community to save more than 40,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually (which is valued more than $60,000 annually).

Under the Kwethluk Battery Energy Storage Project, the joint venture between Nuvista, Kwethluk Inc., and the Organized Village of Kwethluk will install a fast-charging BESS with a power conversion capacity of 500 kW and an electrical energy storage capacity of 670 kWh in the Kwethluk wind-diesel power system.

This project builds on plans to perform extensive upgrades to Kwethluk’s electric generation and distribution, including the integration of three 100-kW wind turbines and electric thermal stove devices to offset the cost of energy for 30 tribal residences. These efforts will contribute to the community’s goal to reduce dependence on fossil fuels for power generation and heating by 50% by 2030.

The project will install a 500-kW/670-kWh BESS, which will be integrated into the Kwethluk wind-diesel system. When fully charged, the BESS will be able to meet the peak load of the entire community at a rate of over 500 kW for more than 1 hour. The current peak load experienced by the community is 450 kW. The BESS could be repeatedly recharged using the wind system. Once the BESS is installed, it will provide grid stability so that the contribution of variable wind and solar can be integrated into the grid for increased fuel displacement.

Kwethluk Inc. is the Alaska Native village corporation for Kwethluk, Alaska, and it is the owner of the electric utility Kwethluk Power Company. The Organized Village of Kwethluk is the federally recognized Tribe representing Kwethluk. Village is in the Bethel Census Area of Alaska in the central-western region of the state.

The project was competitively selected under the Office of Indian Energy's Fiscal Year 2019 funding opportunity announcement “Energy Infrastructure Deployment on Tribal Lands - 2019” (DE-FOA-0002032) and started in October 2019.

The project status reports provide more information.