People, Policy, & Finance / Energy Efficiency / Renewable Energy
Alaska is a laboratory for clean energy innovation. Engineers, technicians, designers and dreamers are standing up microgrid systems that integrate wind, hydro, solar and other renewable resources that power homes, villages communities and cities. Cold climate construction...
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Land-based wind energy is now the cheapest electricity on the planet. In Alaska, there are abundant wind resources available for energy development. High costs associated with fossil fuel-based generation and improvements in wind power technology make this clean, renewable...
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The cost of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) power has decreased by eighty-nine percent over the last decade and it is now the second cheapest electricity on the planet, according to the research firm Lazard. This precipitous drop in cost, along with successful community...
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Alaska has thousands of miles of coastline, providing potential for tidal and wave energy development. Alaska rivers can also be a potential resource; river in-stream and tidal energy technologies could supply some of Alaska’s energy needs. Tidal and river in-stream energy...
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Hydroelectric power, Alaska’s largest source of renewable energy, supplies roughly a quarter of the state’s electricity in an average water year. In 2018, 50 hydro projects provided power to Alaska utility customers, including the Alaska Energy Authority owned 120-MW...
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Alaska has three distinct geothermally active regions: the Interior hot springs, running from the Yukon Territory of Canada to the Seward Peninsula; the Southeast hot springs; and the “Ring of Fire” volcanoes, which include the Aleutians, the Alaska Peninsula, the Wrangell...
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Alaska’s primary biomass fuels are wood, sawmill waste, fish byproducts and municipal waste. Wood remains an important renewable energy source for Alaskans. More than 100,000 cords of wood are burned in the form of cordwood, chips and pellets annually. Wood-heating systems...
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With 16 percent of the country’s landmass and less than 0.3 percent of its population, Alaska’s unique geography has driven development of its energy supply infrastructure — power plants, power lines, natural gas pipelines, bulk fuel tank farms and related facilities. ...
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In 2008, the Cold Climate Housing Research Center published the first of two reports outlining recommended state programs, initiatives, and goals to reduce end-use energy demand and keep hundreds of millions of dollars in the state’s economy each year. That year, the state...
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Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy & Resilience (C-PACER) is an innovative financing program that enables owners of commercial and industrial properties to obtain low-cost, long-term financing for energy efficiency, renewable energy and resilience projects and then...
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Clean energy funds support the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency by helping remove market barriers and educating the public. State clean energy funds are supported through small, mill-rated utility surcharges called system benefit charges. Programs that...
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On Wednesday, March 15th, 2023, Alaska Senator Löki Tobin introduced Senate Bill 101 to establish a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for the Railbelt region of Alaska. The legislation would require the five electric utilities on the Railbelt (the interconnected grid that...
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