ORCA Wins Highest Commercial Readiness Award
础颁贰笔鈥檚 , or ORCA, was recently selected as the top staff-led innovation with the highest commercial readiness in the 2019-2020 无码乱伦 IDEAs award competition.
The Innovative Disclosures and Entrepreneurial Activities awards, hosted by the 无码乱伦 Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization, recognize innovative solutions from submitted invention disclosures from 无码乱伦 and University of Alaska Southeast for the academic year.
The award also acknowledges ORCA鈥檚 capacity to make an immediate impact, the potential to scale and the capabilities of the innovative team.
鈥淲e are honored to receive this recognition from the university for what was truly a team effort to meet a research need for collection of powerhouse energy load data in remote Alaska communities,鈥 said Erin Whitney, the ACEP Data Collection and Analysis Program manager. 鈥淓ven more fun is that this effort prominently featured students, who gained valuable real-world experience while contributing meaningfully to the project.鈥
ACEP will use the data collected with ORCA to help Alaska communities better understand their current energy consumption patterns, as well as options for incorporating local, sustainable and cost-effective sources of energy.
鈥淭his is a wonderful recognition for a true team effort!鈥 said ACEP research engineer Michelle Wilber. 鈥淎 wide body of researchers at ACEP recognized the need for better energy use data in Alaska communities. Our amazing team worked together to conceptualize and solve the problem of getting powerhouse data from remote communities in a cost-effective and robust manner by inventing, building and testing the ORCA.鈥
The ORCA team is grateful for support from the that allowed them the time and funding to work on this project.
鈥淥NR's support is a vital part of building an innovative and resilient energy ecosystem in Alaska,鈥 Whitney added.
Michelle Wilber installs an ORCA in the powerhouse in Galena. Photo by Amanda Byrd.