Community-Centric Microgrid Feasibility Analysis Framework to Accelerate Resilience of Island Communities

Technical Report · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2025

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2566760· OSTI ID:2566760

Poudel, Bikash ^[1]; Acharya, Mahesh ^[1]; Shafiul Alam, S. M. ^[1]; Miles, Andrew ^[2]; Sinha, Nishaant ^[3]; Fahy, Kelsey ^[3]; Stadler, Michael ^[3]; Reedy, Katherine ^[4]

---

1. Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
2. Univ. of Idaho, Moscow, ID (United States); Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States). Alaska Center for Energy and Power
3. Xendee Corporation, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
4. Idaho State Univ., Pocatello, ID (United States)

Marine energy offers a reliable energy solution for island and coastal communities, which often lack traditional local generation, to support their transition to energy independence and reduce reliance on externally imported fuels. Successful deployment of new technologies in these isolated locations requires community acceptance and approval from the outset, as these communities typically lack the financial and technical resources to operate and maintain new systems. This report presents a community-centric microgrid planning framework for remote coastal and island communities. Community engagement is integrated as the first step in the planning process, incorporating community profiles and visions into energy development scenarios. A case study was conducted in St. George, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, which relies entirely on diesel yet has significant wind and wave energy potential. Community engagement revealed a unique history and current economic status, with an interest in adopting advanced energy technologies despite past failures. Various microgrid configurations were optimized, considering different technologies to meet current and future energy needs while balancing cost and energy resilience. Wave energy converters (WECs) were a key component, integrated with other energy sources using the Xendee optimization tool. The Marine Energy Microgrid Toolkit, developed as part of this work, uses commercial power system analysis tools to optimize and analyze microgrid scenarios. The developed framework and toolkit can be applied to island and coastal communities to enhance resilience and support microgrid deployments. Future enhancements will include incorporating new marine resources, developing dynamic models, and automating the integration of Xendee and PowerFactory simulations.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 2566760
• Report Number(s): INL/RPT--25-84046-Rev000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
08 HYDROGEN
14 SOLAR ENERGY
16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER
17 WIND ENERGY
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
25 ENERGY STORAGE
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
Community Engagement
Infrastructure Evaluation
Marine Energy
Microgrid
Operations Evaluation
Power Flow Study
Technoeconomic Analysis
Wave Energy