The Department of Energy's EPSCoR program is funding the "Making Wind Work for Alaska" project.  The project goal is to improve the performance, cost and sustainability of existing and planned wind-diesel systems in Alaska in order to reduce the amount of diesel fuel used for electric power generation, heating and transportation.  This is being accomplished by consolidating and accelerating ongoing research conducted through the Alaska Center for Energy and Power (ACEP), the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), and other participating research units at the University of Alaska.  Specifically, the project will address the following:

1) Penetration: Address technical challenges in the areas of power stability, long-term energy storage, and advanced control technologies associated with high penetration wind systems.

2) Cold Climate: Adress issues related to operation of turbines and ancillary equipment in cold climates and remote locations, including production loss, remote monitoring and foundation design.

3)Socioeconomic: Identify and examine social and economic barriers to wind-diesel systems and propose policies to overcome them.