Wheels of change: new energy source on the horizon.

• Author: Pohl, John
• Position: Wheels as energy storage systems

From a cart's muddy underbelly to a schooner's windy stern, from frost-rimmed railways to jet-blasted taxiways, over time the wheel has taken many forms, always evolving to meet the needs of a people intent on improving their ways of life. Now, with a new millennium approaching, the wheel is about to change again- and it just may alter the face of electrical power in Alaska.

The wheel, that familiar, circular frame that turns on an axle, is a long-time companion to humankind-though not in Alaska. According to state historians, the wheel didn't appear in the Great Land until 200 years ago, brought over in the cargo of European explorers.

Today, a new wheel is rolling toward the state. One that will provide great savings to rural Alaskans.

Earlier this year, the Federal Department of Energy announced its intention to speed up the commercial development of superconductivity technology by offering to form partnerships on six new energy conservation projects. One of these, a flywheel energy storage system, is in negotiation with the Boeing Company's Phantom Works Division, with Alaska being a top target market.

Recognizing that energy production in Alaska - particularly rural Alaska - is often costly, Boeing saw its flywheel energy storage system - or FESS as it is dubbed - as potentially helpful to the industries and communities of the Last Frontier.

THE NEED

"Generally speaking, everyone - whether an urban business, a rural community, a remote hatchery, or a wilderness mining operation - is keenly interested in reliable and efficient energy at a reasonable cost," said Peter Crimp, an energy specialist for Alaska's Department of Energy. "For Railbelt Alaska-Fairbanks, Anchorage, and the Kenai Peninsula - a well-developed energy infrastructure already exists. The communities along the belt are connected via an energy interlink between various hydroelectric and natural gas-fired power plants. For this reason, and because of the economy of scale, their energy is fairly inexpensive."

Rural Alaska is another matter.

According to Percy Frisby, director of Alaska's Division of Energy, the biggest challenge energy-wise in rural Alaska is the high cost of producing that energy.

"Rural Alaska relies predominantly on diesel generation and there are high costs associated with purchasing, transporting and distributing that fuel," said Frisby. The Alaskan Department of Community and Regional Affairs reports that the cost of electricity for customers in rural parts of Alaska is approximately three to five times higher than for customers in more urban regions of...