Located 90 miles from the nearest power grid, Camp Denali has harnessed the benefits of renewable energy for most of its history. From their first hydroelectric system, developed in 1981, to subsequent photovoltaics and passive-solar hot water, they continue to explore evolving ways to power their facilities while minimizing fossil fuel dependence and carbon emissions.
This year, Camp Denali continued work on a new 90-Kilowatt solar array, which will provide nearly all of the camp’s electrical needs for decades to come. The project was started in the Summer of 2019 and the company worked with Remote Power in Fairbanks, AK for research, design and some installation. However, most of the building and installation was accomplished with their own staff – a true team effort.
Last fall, with the expertise and equipment from Denali Drilling out of Anchorage, 18 steel piles were sunk into holes augered, most through two to eight feet of permafrost, to a final depth of 20 feet. To protect the tundra vegetation, they deployed drill rig mats. Each pile has an array of sixteen 310-Watt panels for a total of 288 panels with a max output of almost 90 kW. The arrays track the sun on their east-to-west axis, garnering 30% more output versus stationary arrays.
This summer, with no guests at camp due to COVID-19, the team built an addition to the existing energy building in order to house the batteries, inverters, charge controllers and back-up diesel generator. In order to minimize damage to the tundra, the wiring between the arrays and the energy building was trenched using a motorized ditch-digger and then buried by hand. The tundra was meticulously “sewed back together” by the caring hands of the staff.
This spring the staff will be connecting the electrical and ground wires on each array to complete the installation in time for their guests on June 4. The anticipated fuel savings will be about 5,000 gallons of diesel per summer season.
Camp Denali owner Simon Hamm, is looking forward to the resulting natural quiet that the solar array will provide. “It is a wonderful complement to the wilderness surroundings that we and our guests get to enjoy,” he wrote.
“It is a wonderful complement to the wilderness surroundings that we and our guests get to enjoy.”
The strong ethos of sustainability and education that permeates the company’s mission was the crux of moving towards cleaner energy. Camp Denali’s mission is to provide active learning experiences and to foster stewardship of the natural world through a tradition of excellence, community and place. They continually strive to improve sustainability in all facets of their operations, from composting, recycling and local-sourcing, to avoiding single-use amenities, line-drying and use of biodegradable cleaning products. The staff literally walk, bike, and ski the talk, self-powering their commutes down to as much as 30 below in the winter months!
“The new clean energy installation will provide an opportunity for guests, staff, and other small business owners in Alaska to learn about viable alternatives to the current energy status quo,” writes Hamm. “In the future, we will explore integrating electric vehicles, electric hot water, ambient room heating and electric lighting in guest cabins to further lessen our reliance on fossil fuels.”
“It’s an opportunity for guests, staff, and other small business owners in Alaska to learn about viable alternatives to the current energy status quo.”
Innovative projects like these throughout Alaska are helping to move our state towards a cleaner, more resilient future. Forward-thinking businesses, like Camp Denali, are a key player in moving our state forward.
Thank you to Camp Denali for being a REAP Tour Green Partner and showing true leadership in our clean energy future.