Learning from Arctic Microgrids: Cost and Resiliency Projections for Renewable Energy Expansion with Hydrogen and Battery Storage
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Uses real load, resource, and generation data from Kotzebue, Alaska to compare microgrid architectures that increase renewable penetration while maintaining reliability. Using HOMER Pro, it evaluates pathways to meet over 90% of annual electricity demand with renewables, comparing battery storage and hydrogen energy storage. Results indicate near-term planned expansions could enable over 50% renewable generation and reduce cost of energy; further build-outs are assessed with cost sensitivity and storage capacity sizing to test when hydrogen storage may become viable.
Citation Formats
TY - DATA
AB - Uses real load, resource, and generation data from Kotzebue, Alaska to compare microgrid architectures that increase renewable penetration while maintaining reliability. Using HOMER Pro, it evaluates pathways to meet over 90% of annual electricity demand with renewables, comparing battery storage and hydrogen energy storage. Results indicate near-term planned expansions could enable over 50% renewable generation and reduce cost of energy; further build-outs are assessed with cost sensitivity and storage capacity sizing to test when hydrogen storage may become viable.
AU - McKinley, Paul Cheng
A2 - Wilber, Michelle
A3 - Whitney, Erin
DB - C-MIX - Community Microgrid Information Exchange
DP - Open EI | National Laboratory of the Rockies
DO -
KW - Solar
KW - Photovoltaics
KW - PV
KW - Wind energy
KW - Battery energy storage
KW - Hydrogen
KW - Planning and design
KW - Planning
KW - Design
KW - Financing
KW - Business models
KW - Resilience
KW - Extreme weather
KW - Case studies
KW - Performance
LA - English
DA - 2025/07/30
PY - 2025
PB - University of Alaska
T1 - Learning from Arctic Microgrids: Cost and Resiliency Projections for Renewable Energy Expansion with Hydrogen and Battery Storage
UR - https://cmix.openei.org/submissions/172
ER -
McKinley, Paul Cheng, et al. Learning from Arctic Microgrids: Cost and Resiliency Projections for Renewable Energy Expansion with Hydrogen and Battery Storage. University of Alaska, 30 July, 2025, C-MIX - Community Microgrid Information Exchange. https://cmix.openei.org/submissions/172.
McKinley, P., Wilber, M., & Whitney, E. (2025). Learning from Arctic Microgrids: Cost and Resiliency Projections for Renewable Energy Expansion with Hydrogen and Battery Storage. [Data set]. C-MIX - Community Microgrid Information Exchange. University of Alaska. https://cmix.openei.org/submissions/172
McKinley, Paul Cheng, Michelle Wilber, and Erin Whitney. Learning from Arctic Microgrids: Cost and Resiliency Projections for Renewable Energy Expansion with Hydrogen and Battery Storage. University of Alaska, July, 30, 2025. Distributed by C-MIX - Community Microgrid Information Exchange. https://cmix.openei.org/submissions/172
@misc{CMIX_Dataset_172,
title = {Learning from Arctic Microgrids: Cost and Resiliency Projections for Renewable Energy Expansion with Hydrogen and Battery Storage},
author = {McKinley, Paul Cheng and Wilber, Michelle and Whitney, Erin},
abstractNote = {Uses real load, resource, and generation data from Kotzebue, Alaska to compare microgrid architectures that increase renewable penetration while maintaining reliability. Using HOMER Pro, it evaluates pathways to meet over 90\% of annual electricity demand with renewables, comparing battery storage and hydrogen energy storage. Results indicate near-term planned expansions could enable over 50\% renewable generation and reduce cost of energy; further build-outs are assessed with cost sensitivity and storage capacity sizing to test when hydrogen storage may become viable.},
url = {https://cmix.openei.org/submissions/172},
year = {2025},
howpublished = {C-MIX - Community Microgrid Information Exchange, University of Alaska, https://cmix.openei.org/submissions/172},
note = {Accessed: 2026-08-06}
}
Details
Data from Jul 30, 2025
Last updated Mar 30, 2026
Submitted Jun 2, 2026
Organization
University of Alaska
Contact
Paul Cheng McKinley
Authors
