In 2022, REAP worked with Governor Dunleavy to help introduce Renewable Portfolio Standard legislation for the Railbelt that would require the Railbelt region’s four cooperative electric utilities to work together and diversify the region’s generation portfolio by sourcing an increasing percentage of their collective electricity generation from local renewable energy resources. Following our subsequent efforts to educate policymakers and the public about the myriad benefits that will come from establishing a Standard for the Railbelt, REAP worked with Republican House Representative Jesse Sumner and Democratic Senator Löki Tobin in 2023 to support the re-introduction of RPS legislation in both chambers of the state Legislature.

Railbelt utility rates are going to increase dramatically in the next five years if we do not diversify our generation portfolio. This legislation would require the five electric utilities on the Railbelt (the interconnected power grid that stretches from Fairbanks through Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula) to generate an increasing percentage of their electricity from renewable resources. The Standard’s aim is to foster collaboration between the utilities, with noncompliance penalties possible only if the entire Railbelt region as a whole fails to meet the portfolio standard in any of the compliance years. Twenty nine states and several territories currently have RPS requirements.

Unfortunately, aspirational goals don’t work. In 2010, Alaska set a nonbinding goal to generate 50 percent of the state’s electricity from renewable sources by 2025. Since that time, little new renewable generation has been commissioned in the state. Overall, Alaska currently obtains approximately 25% of its electricity from renewables. That figure is approximately 15% in the Railbelt region. 

That is why, on October 27, 2022, the Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP) Board of Directors approved an RPS framework that includes the incremental milestones contained in prior versions of RPS legislation introduced in the Alaska State Legislature. An RPS will be an enforceable standard that the utilities must comply with.

An RPS will stabilize electric costs, keep precious energy dollars from leaving the state, diversify our economy, and attract new investment. Additionally, in February 2022 the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) completed a study requested by Governor Mike Dunleavy that found five different scenarios in which the Railbelt could achieve 80% renewable generation by 2040 without impacting customer reliability. All scenarios take advantage of the region’s current flexible generators and energy storage capabilities. Subsequent analysis conducted by Alan Mitchell at Analysis North found that reaching the 80% renewable standard would save billions of dollars in fuel costs over the next two decades.

Wind and solar can be developed quickly, and doing so will create thousands of new jobs. This 21st century workforce will diversify our state’s labor market and keep Alaska competitive in a fast-changing world.

WATCH: Executive Director, Chris Rose, presents to the House Energy Committee on March 16, 2023, about the need for an RPS.

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