In Anchorage, a coal-inspired startup could help pave the path to wind and solar • Alaska Beacon

Electric Utilities in Alaska and Worldwide Transitioning to Renewable Energy Sources

Electric utilities in Alaska and around the world are trying to cut their consumption of coal and gas, and switch to renewable power sources like wind and solar energy.

But there’s one big obstacle to completely phasing out fossil fuels: The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine — meaning that those sources alone can’t match demand 100% of the time.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

1. Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
2. Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
3. Goal 13: Climate Action

Cache Energy: A Solution to Renewable Power Storage

Green energy skeptics cite that problem in arguing that utilities will continue depending on fossil fuels for decades. 

But a new company that wants to use Alaska as a testing ground is part of a growing industry that could prove those skeptics wrong — and help the state transition to generating much more of its power from wind and solar amid an impending shortage of utilities’ primary fuel, natural gas.

Cache Energy’s Technology

• Cache Energy, run by an immigrant from India’s coal country, publicly unveiled its technology last month at a dusty Anchorage industrial lot — with backing from multinational energy company Halliburton and plans to test the system in Kotzebue next year.
• Cache’s technology aims to capture excess power from wind and solar generation and save it until it’s needed.
• The company has developed a new energy storage system that stores power in tiny, white pellets derived from limestone, a cheap, abundant material.
• The pellets are charged using renewable power, and when moisture is blown over them, they release heat that can be used to run generators during a shortage of renewable power.

Importance of Energy Storage

One scenario to put the globe on a path toward net zero carbon emissions, published by the International Energy Agency, calls for a 35-fold increase in storage capacity between 2022 and 2030. An industry-supported study by the consulting firm McKinsey says investment in energy storage could exceed $3 trillion by 2040.

Other Energy Storage Technologies

• Pumped hydro: Water is piped up into a reservoir when renewable energy is plentiful, then released through a turbine to generate power when wind and solar are scarce.
• Pressurized underground reservoirs: Water or air is stored in pressurized underground reservoirs for later use in generating power.
• Hoisting huge blocks of dirt into the air: Renewable power is stored by hoisting large blocks of dirt into the air, then discharging the saved electricity by spinning turbines as the blocks are lowered.

Cache Energy’s Potential Impact

Cache Energy’s presence in Alaska, experts said, shows how businesses are scrambling to solve some of the technological problems posed by the transition to renewable power.

Vanderburg’s organization is an Anchorage-based nonprofit that links new companies developing climate technology, including Cache, with potential customers and host communities in Alaska.

Cache, which is headquartered in Illinois, is still in its early stages, and the system — which will likely cost customers a few hundred thousand dollars apiece — has not yet been used commercially. 

But the company has already raised $8.5 million from investors that include Halliburton — a company known for its long history providing services to oil companies that’s now also branching into alternative energy sources. Cache’s Anchorage demonstration project is set up at Halliburton’s industrial lot.

Perkins visited Cache’s project last week and described it as “one more tool in the toolkit to solve the Cook Inlet gas shortage as quickly and cost-effectively as possible.” 

Still, Cache is drawing intense interest. More than 200 businesspeople, elected officials and others have toured the project in the past two weeks, and Dwivedi’s goal is to have 10 of the company’s systems installed in Alaska communities by the end of 2025. 

The state, he said, offers a perfect proving ground, and a key market for Cache, with its harsh climate and big seasonal wind and solar variations.

Cache Energy’s Future Plans

• The electric utility in Kotzebue, just above the Arctic Circle in Northwest Alaska, is set to test Cache’s system next summer, according to Tom Atkinson, the utility’s general manager.
• Cache’s technology could help with the shortage of renewable power in Kotzebue and potentially absorb extra solar power in the Arctic summer for use in winter when there’s dramatically less sunlight.

“Renewable energy has worked well,” Atkinson said. “But wind and solar and batteries have only gotten us so far. Now we have to figure out other systems that will take us further.”

SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

1. SDGs Addressed or Connected to the Issues Highlighted in the Article

• SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
• SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• SDG 13: Climate Action

2. Specific Targets Under Those SDGs Based on the Article’s Content

• SDG 7.2: Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
• SDG 9.4: Upgrade infrastructure and retrofit industries to make them sustainable
• SDG 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning

3. Indicators Mentioned or Implied in the Article to Measure Progress towards the Identified Targets

• Investment in energy storage technologies
• Increase in storage capacity for renewable energy
• Reduction in reliance on fossil fuels
• Deployment of renewable power sources

Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

Source: alaskabeacon.com