ACEP Summer Internship Program: Tour of Aurora Energy’s Power Plant
On Tuesday, July 1st ACEP interns and staff received a guided tour of the Aurora Energy Power Plant and a connecting utilador in Fairbanks.
The tour started with a presentation by the tour leaders in which they discussed the history of the Aurora Power Plant; showed a map of its distribution system for heat and power; and explained what government regulations applied to their operations. Next the tour participants were lead to the coal offloading area for the Power Plant. Sitting across the Chena River, the coal offloading area connects the Power Plant to the AVÀÇÂÛ̳ Railroad, which brings coal to Fairbanks from the Usibelli Coal Mine near Healy, AVÀÇÂÛ̳. The facility’s four boilers were the next stop for the tour. One boiler was open for maintenance so participants were able to see its inner workings. Next the group was able to see an open utilador connecting the Power Plant to its customers. Lastly the tour stopped at the Doyon Building in downtown Fairbanks to see how Aurora Energy connected its services to its customers.
ACEP would like to offer a special thank you to our tour leaders from Aurora Energy, Buki Wright and Matt Burdick. We appreciate you opening your work space to us and the time it took out of your schedules to do it. Thank you.
Photo: Buki Wright of Aurora Energy explains to ACEP interns and staff how the coal is offloaded from train cars and transported to the Power Plants boilers. Photo courtesy of MCassino, ACEP/UAF.