Abstract
The University of Alaska Fairbanks is a multidisciplinary academic institution that supports interests of local communities throughout Alaska. The use of clean, renewable energy from coastal and riverine resources could provide Alaskans in remote environments with a sustainable source of electricity. Work to study wave resources at Yakutat, Alaska and riverine energy on the Tanana and Yukon Rivers are underway to understand the potential benefits to Alaskan communities. UAF would like to better characterize the potential interactions of marine energy devices with the environment to ensure that development of these energy resources is done in a responsible manner. UAF wishes to work with Sandia National Laboratories and Integral Consulting to refine existing numerical models of both a coastal wave (Yakutat) and riverine (Tanana) system and then become trained on the development and implementation of these models. The knowledge transfer provided through this training will ensure that UAF can modify, apply, and evaluate these numerical models to assess environmental changes due to the presence of marine energy devices. The open-source models developed by Sandia, SNL-SWAN and SNL-Dflow-FM-CEC, are ideally suited for UAF’s project development goals sees the value in training students and staff on their use to support responsible site development.