2023 ARPA-e SHARKS Summit

Image described by caption and credit below the image
Photo courtesy of Ben Loeffler.
Left to Right: BladeRunner Energy's Austin Payne and Moriel Arango, ACEP's Ben Loeffler and Kawsar Ahammed at the ²ÝÁñÉçÇø SHARKS project booth.

April 12, 2023

Last summer, ACEP’s hydrokinetics team tested the BladeRunner Energy turbine during their field season. Ben Loeffler and new ²ÝÁñÉçÇø electrical engineering graduate student Kawsar Ahammed were joined by representatives from BladeRunner Energy in presenting their results at a booth at the annual ARPA-e Energy Innovation Summit.

The summit, held March 22–24 in Washington, D.C., hosted over 400 ARPA-e projects and shared research outcomes via booths in the Technology Showcase. ARPA-e, or Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, is a U.S. government agency tasked with promoting and funding research and development of advanced energy technologies.

Within ARPA-e, the SHARKS — or the Submarine Hydrokinetic and Riverine Kilo-megawatt Systems program — seeks to develop technologies to harness river and tidal currents for both microgrid- and utility-scale applications.

ACEP’s ongoing SHARKS project is developing BladeRunner Energy’s unique turbine design and testing it at the Tanana River Test Site near Nenana ²ÝÁñÉçÇø. Fieldwork at the site will resume this summer.

For more information on hydrokinetic research at ACEP, please contact Ben Loeffler at bhloeffler@alaska.edu.