Holistic and integrated energy system optimization in reducing diesel dependence of Canadian remote Arctic communities

• Main Author: Quitoras, Marvin Rhey D.
• Other Authors: Crawford, Curran
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Canadian Arctic; Remote community; Indigenous Peoples; Integrated energy system; Energy policy; Robust optimization; Uncertainty; Arctic; Strong Point; Climate change
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1828/12134

This dissertation demonstrates novel holistic approaches on how to link policy, clean energy innovations, and robust energy modeling techniques to help build more resilient and cost-effective energy systems for the Canadian Arctic region and remote communities in general. In spite of the diversity among Arctic jurisdictions, various energy issues and challenges are shared pan-territorially in the North. For instance, 53 out of 80 remote communities in the Northern territories rely exclusively on diesel-based infrastructures to generate electricity, with heating oil as their primary source of heat. This critical dependence on fossil fuels exposes the Indigenous peoples and other Canadians living in the North to high energy costs and environmental vulnerabilities which is exacerbated by the local and global catastrophic effects of climate change in the Arctic. Aside from being strong point sources of greenhouse gases and other airborne pollutants, this reliance on carbon-intensive sources of energy elevates risk of oils spills during fuel transport and storage. Further, conventional transportation mode via ice roads is now increasingly unreliable because of the rising Arctic temperatures which is twice the global average rate. As a result, most fuels are being transported by small planes which contribute to high energy costs and fuel poverty rates, or via boats which also increases the risk of oil spills in the Arctic waters. Methodologically, this thesis presents a multi-domain perspective on how to accelerate energy transitions among Northern remote communities. In particular, a multi-objective optimization energy model was developed in order to capture complex trade-offs in designing integrated electrical and thermal energy systems. In comparison with traditional single-objective optimization approach, this technique offers diversity of solutions to represent multiple energy solution philosophies from various stakeholders and practitioners in the North. A case study in the Northernmost community of the ...