Pivots: Energy Leadership Accelerator

能源领导加速器（ELA）将通过召集农村能源从业者并赋予农村能源从业者将新兴清洁能源技术整合到其微电网中的能力，促进处于气候影响第一线的偏远、岛屿和服务欠缺社区的国民健康、繁荣和福利。偏远和岛屿（未并网）地区依靠交付的柴油来发电，这使得它们容易受到昂贵的市场波动和供应链中断的影响。此外，这些地区在调整其能源基础设施以适应气候变化方面还面临着最紧迫的科学和社会挑战。虽然存在用于摆脱化石燃料的技术，但这些技术在微电网上的偏远岛屿社区以及美国其他高收入并网地区的应用和采用之间存在差距。 ELA 提供了一种手段、结构和机会，可以在偏远地区召集农村能源冠军，相互学习和合作，从而为能源基础设施和劳动力弹性提出适合文化和区域的解决方案。 ELA 将投资当地能源领导者设计和实施社区能源项目，这些项目采用太阳能和风能微电网以及电池储能系统等新兴可再生能源技术，并为当地劳动力创造可持续的机会。利用阿拉斯加能源与电力中心和落基山研究所成功的知识共享计划，ELA 为远程能源冠军提供跨区域网络和领导力发展。该项目将侧重于将知识共享教学法扩展到传统的技术和领导力培训之外，以纳入本土的认知方式。一组 24 名学员将由具有最少项目经验的初级学员和至少实施过一个成功的社区能源项目的高级学员组成。第一年，该项目将推出虚拟社区建设和 10 个同步会议，提供有关项目开发、管理和可再生能源集成技术的定制内容。第二年，该团队将召开为期两周的阿拉斯加领导力实验室，参观费尔班克斯、科尔多瓦、科策布和北极西北部其他村庄的成功可再生能源项目，并向建造这些项目的阿拉斯加创新能源冠军学习。该团队将听取社区的声音以及来自能源行业不同领域的演讲者和协调人的意见。回国后，该项目将在高管辅导支持下结束，以推进其区域能源项目。 ELA 将针对来自阿拉斯加州以及美国加勒比地区（波多黎各）和太平洋地区（夏威夷、关岛和美属萨摩亚）的州和地区的参与者，并将重点关注技术培训、同行合作和指导，以推进项目和劳动力准备实施可再生能源微电网。该项目与由 NSF TIP 和 EDU 理事会资助的 NSF ExLENT 计划相一致，旨在为来自不同专业和教育背景的个人提供体验式学习机会，以增加他们对新兴技术领域职业道路的兴趣和机会。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Energy Leadership Accelerator (ELA) will advance the national health, prosperity and welfare of remote, islanded, and underserved communities at the front line of climate impacts by convening and empowering rural energy practitioners to integrate emerging clean energy technologies into their microgrids. Remote and islanded (non-grid-connected) regions rely on delivered diesel fuel for power generation, leaving them vulnerable to expensive market fluctuations and supply chain disruptions. Furthermore, these regions also face the most pressing scientific and societal challenges in adapting their energy infrastructure for climate resilience. While the technology exists for transitions away from fossil fuels, there is a disparity between the application and adoption of these technologies for remote, islanded communities on microgrids, and other high-income, grid-connected areas of the United States. ELA provides the means, structure and opportunity to convene rural energy champions within a remote context to learn from and with one another in order to spearhead culturally and regionally appropriate solutions for energy infrastructure and workforce resiliency. ELA will invest in local energy leaders in the design and implementation of community energy projects that adopt emerging renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind microgrids and battery energy storage systems, and build sustainable opportunities for the local workforce. Leveraging the successful knowledge sharing programs of the Alaska Center for Energy and Power and Rocky Mountain Institute, ELA provides cross-regional networking and leadership development for remote energy champions. The project will focus on expanding the knowledge-sharing pedagogy beyond traditional technical and leadership training to incorporate Indigenous Ways of Knowing. A cohort of 24 trainees will be composed of junior participants with minimal project experience and senior participants with at least one successful community energy project implemented. In year one, the project will launch with virtual community building and 10 synchronous sessions delivering tailored content on project development, management, and renewable energy integration technology. In year two, the cohort will convene for a two-week Alaska Leadership Lab to visit successful renewable energy projects in Fairbanks, Cordova, Kotzebue and other villages of the northwest Arctic, and learn from the innovative Alaskan energy champions who built them. The cohort will engage with community voices as well as speakers and facilitators from a diverse cross section of the energy sector. Upon returning home, the project will conclude with executive coaching support to advance their regional energy project. ELA will target participants from Alaska and US states and territories in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico) and the Pacific (Hawaii, Guam, and American Samoa), and will focus on technical training, peer collaboration, and mentorship to advance projects and workforce readiness to implement renewable energy microgrids. This project aligns with the NSF ExLENT Program, funded by the NSF TIP and EDU Directorates, as it seeks to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to increase their interest in, and their access to, career pathways in emerging technology fields.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.