Potentials - September/October 2017 - 23

facilities include multiple dieselbased gensets (a combination of
a diesel engine and an electric generator) that are expensive to operate
and maintain.
Furthermore, the electricity requirements in many communities
have already reached levels close to
their installed capacities, limiting
new infrastructure and economic
growth. From an environmental perspective, the related carbon footprint
includes not only fuel genset-related
emissions but also fuel transportation emissions and ground contamination due to spills. These communities combined use approximately 192
million L of fuel per year (or approximately 1,500 L/person per year). That
is enough fuel for one person to drive
from Anchorage, Alaska, to Buenos
Aires, Argentina.
The reasons for and scale of the
energy access and environmental
challenges these communities face
vary significantly. Nevertheless,
all confront a mixture of technical
and nontechnical issues requiring
a comprehensive approach that acknowledges and addresses the social,
economic, technical, and political
aspects of electricity generation. Improvements to electrical stability and
performance must be made with the
goal of improving the social, economic, and environmental needs of the
people. We will highlight some of the
technical and social issues related to
energy in remote communities and
the potential for clean energy implementation to address both.

scattered over just a few kilometers.
These facilities usually have a series
of three to six diesel gensets that
can operate individually or in parallel
to supply the load; such capacities
are often larger than the actual or
expected peak load to allow for sufficient backup capability in case of
failure or maintenance.
From a control perspective, these
facilities have a suitable level of
control over their operation, but this
control does not extend to the loads.
Recent technical developments in
energy storage and controllable load
technologies mean that clean energy
technologies can now be seriously
considered as an alternative to reduce the presently high environmen-

tal and economic impact. While the
integration of a low-penetration renewable energy project does not create major technological challenges in
these locations, a high-penetration
renewable energy project does. The
advance controls required to manage the renewable energy variability
with the current limitations of energy storage technologies remains a
serious, ongoing technical and economic challenge.

Technical issues in
remote microgrids
Various technical issues and challenges related to diesel generation
facilities are present in a large
nu mber of remote communities.

Canada's Diesel-Dependent Communities

Population
<500
501-1,500
1,501-2,500
2,501-5,000
>5,001
Electricity Transmission
Lines

FIG1 A map of Canada's remote communities. [Graphic courtesy of the Waterloo Global
Science Initiative (2017). OpenAccess Energy Blueprint.]

Remote microgrids
The U.S. Department of Energ y
defines a microgrid as a group of
interconnected loads and distributed
energy resources within clearly
defined electrical boundaries that
acts as a single controllable entity
with respect to the grid. From an
electrical point of view, Canada's
remote communities fall into this category and can be considered isolated
microgrids (Fig. 2). In general, these
microgrids have a diesel facility as
the sole generation station, connected
to a distribution system, typically a
25-kV line, with distributed loads

FIG2 A partial view of Iqaluit, located on Baffin Island, which meets all electricity and
heating requirements with fuel.

IEEE POTENTIALS September/October 20 1 7

■

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Potentials - September/October 2017