Sustainability Projects get Helping Hand from UNH Fellows

Energy conservation initiatives at Unitil are getting a boost thanks to the work of some exceptional University of New Hampshire graduates and undergraduates participating in a sustainability fellowship program this summer.

The program offered by UNH's Sustainability Institute provides learning opportunities for undergraduate, graduate, and recent graduate students from UNH and other universities to work on transformative sustainability projects with municipal, educational, corporate, and non-profit partners.

While most organizations are teamed up with one fellow, Unitil is working directly with two fellows and helping to mentor a third who's serving as a sustainable engineering fellow at the Shoals Marine Laboratory on Appledore Island off the Maine coast.

This is Unitil's fifth year hosting sustainability fellows.

"We're pleased to be able to continue to offer these talented individuals unique opportunities that allow them to put their skills to the test as they tackle a variety of real-world sustainability projects," said Unitil External Affairs Director Alec O'Meara. "This program not only gives them a chance to practice what they've learned, but the work they produce also provides a significant benefit to hosts like Unitil."

Bailey Jones, one of this year's fellows, is working with Unitil mentors to develop a roadmap for the company's adoption of electric and alternative fuel vehicles, idle mitigation technology, and other applicable fleet emission reduction technologies and initiatives to meet the utility's emission reduction goals.

Unitil is working toward transitioning 60 percent of its vehicles to alternative fuel technology, such as hybrid, electric, or compressed natural gas, by 2030 with 25 percent of vehicles being battery electric by 2035.

Jones, who recently earned his master's in environmental engineering and will pursue his doctoral degree in the same topic in September, has been familiarizing himself with Unitil's fleet from a data standpoint and is focusing research on fleet technologies that balance the company's emissions reduction and fleet goals with its commitment to efficiency, customer service, and emergency response capabilities.

Jones said he chose the fellowship program because he thought it would fit well with his background and provide him with a challenging opportunity for the summer.

"I have had plenty of experience in carbon accounting and sustainability in general, but limited experience applying my sustainability knowledge to the real world. I thought that this project would afford me the opportunity to do so," he said.

Another fellow, Morgan Williams, is studying the feasibility of implementing a battery energy storage system program for Unitil's residential customers. The goal is to develop the business case for the utility to offer technical and financial incentives that enable customers to install battery energy storage systems behind the meter. His study is expected to result in a report and presentation of the "product concept" while detailing the business case that illustrates costs and benefits to ratepayers with strategies on how a program could be implemented across Unitil's service territories.

Williams decided to participate in the program to gain experience before entering the workforce.

"I just graduated and this fellowship was my first bit of experience out of college. My goal in general is to work within the energy industry. I have always felt a desire to work at utilities or other large companies within the sector. This fellowship has given me great experience that may come in handy while I begin my career," said Williams, who majored in environment and resource economics with a dual major in sustainability.

Unitil is also helping to mentor Elisabeth Drakatos, a UNH undergraduate student who's working as a sustainable engineering fellow to assist the Shoals Marine Laboratory (SML) with the management of its sustainable energy microgrid, which was built in collaboration with Unitil.

SML, which is operated jointly by UNH and Cornell University, is a premier marine research and educational facility that has spent almost 60 years working to create a green power grid and other sustainable systems.

Drakatos, who is majoring in civil engineering with a minor in data science, is focusing on the areas of scenario planning to evaluate and mitigate potential future stressors to the microgrid and evaluating the effectiveness of new microgrid upgrades.

"The Sustainable Engineering Fellowship at Shoals Marine Laboratory has been an incredible learning experience thus far," Drakatos said. "My work for the first part of the summer included a deep dive into island data to determine how energy and water use changes based on population, temperature, and programs. This analysis will help the engineers and island community better understand why their utility use changes over the summer as well as why certain outliers occur."

She's also working to determine if temperature rise is affecting battery storage equipment on the island as well as looking for new ways to use surplus amounts of energy. Through the experience, Drakatos has learned how renewable energy systems work and the different types of equipment that are needed.

"I wanted to participate in this particular fellowship because I am interested in working in the renewable energy industry in the future so this was a unique opportunity to learn more about the field, advance my data analysis skill set, and understand the engineering needed to support an island community," Drakatos said.

For more information on the sustainability fellowship program, visit UNH's Sustainability Fellowships page.