On January 21, 2025, the 34th Alaska State Legislature convened, kicking off the 21st year of REAP’s advocacy for policies that promote the increased development of renewable energy and energy efficiency in Alaska. For years, REAP has been laying the groundwork for local renewable energy solutions that will keep energy costs low and stable, stimulate in-state economic development, and minimize Alaska’s dependence on finite and foreign energy sources. There is great urgency to pass sound legislation that addresses our most pressing energy issues. With that in mind, REAP’s Policy Team is working with Legislators to make that happen by helping to pass a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for the Railbelt this session.
The most pressing energy challenge we face today in Alaska’s Railbelt region, from Fairbanks down to Homer, is the Cook Inlet Gas Crisis. Currently, the Railbelt region generates 80 percent of its electricity and most of its heat by burning natural gas that is produced from the Cook Inlet. In 2022, Hilcorp, the private company responsible for producing most of that gas, notified Railbelt utilities and consumers that they cannot guarantee their ability to meet the utilities’ ongoing gas needs after current supply contracts expire. This is because the Inlet’s relatively inexpensive and accessible gas is nearly depleted. Unfortunately, Hilcorp’s announcement aligns with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’s projections that annual supplies of economically recoverable Cook Inlet gas are likely to fall short of the region’s annual demand as soon as 2027.
This realization has forced Southcentral Alaska’s electric and heating utilities to consider alternative sources of energy, and it has led decision makers to propose several competing visions for meeting future energy needs in the Railbelt. Each comes with its own implications for the affordability of heating, electricity, and other goods and services in communities throughout the state.
The urgency to act is high. In this environment, our elected leaders must champion energy policy solutions that foster alignment around a shared vision for our state’s energy future and promote action towards securing reliable, low-cost and stably-priced energy for ratepayers at the speed necessary to fill impending supply gaps. For years, REAP has advocated for the establishment of a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in the Railbelt that will require the region’s electric utilities to generate an increasing percentage of their electricity from renewables. Setting such a Standard would promote the rapid development of the region’s local renewable energy resources in a way that keeps local energy costs low and stable, stimulates in-state economic development and job creation, and promotes Alaska’s energy security by minimizing our dependence on increasingly expensive and volatile priced finite fossil fuels. In this pivotal moment for energy in the Railbelt, REAP’s primary goal for this Legislative session is getting RPS legislation re-introduced and passed before Railbelt utilities sign contracts for alternative energy supplies that could preclude us from realizing the myriad benefits an RPS could bring to the region and the state as a whole.
In 2021, REAP’s Public Policy Committee (PPC), comprised of eleven representatives from REAP’s 21-member board, met several times to consider the Renewable Portfolio Standards that have been enacted in 29 other states and to seek agreement on whether an RPS would make sense for the Railbelt. With support and analysis provided by REAP staff, the PPC members representing industry, local government, Railbelt ratepayers, and urban and rural Alaska electric utilities developed an RPS framework. That framework included draft bill language and rationales for proposed policy objectives; eligible technologies; renewable electricity production targets and incremental milestones; a structure for compliance via reporting and enforcement; and a cost containment mechanism in the form of a cap on the price of alternative compliance payments Railbelt electric utilities could make if they failed to meet the Standard. That Fall, REAP’s full board voted to adopt the PPC’s RPS framework and empowered REAP staff to begin promoting the proposal to policymakers.
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 an RPS 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.
Over the past three years, REAP has worked with its more than 60 member organizations and various other partners to educate policymakers and the public about the Railbelt’s current energy context and the myriad benefits an RPS could bring to the region. REAP staff have developed and disseminated white papers on the future of energy in the region. We’ve hosted informational webinars and public in-person events on the topic and produced a short video series covering relevant dynamics in the Railbelt energy system. Our Executive Director has testified in front of the State Legislature on the need for an RPS in the region. And we’ve sat down with policymakers, utility leaders, members of the media, and many other stakeholders to talk through the bill and its importance for Alaska’s energy future.
Along the way, REAP staff have worked to promote the findings of key analyses including two National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) reports. The first study, published in February 2022, finds that multiple pathways exist for achieving an 80% RPS in the Railbelt while balancing supply and demand under major outage conditions with appropriate system engineering. The second study, published in March 2024, finds that the lowest-cost future for the Railbelt power grid entails generating approximately 76% of the system’s electricity from renewables by 2040, with wind alone contributing up to 50% of annual generation. The 2024 report also finds that the resulting net savings to ratepayers would amount to over $1 Billion between 2024 and 2040 after subtracting the costs associated with integrating those additional renewables and addressing their variability from the much larger savings on avoided fuel purchases. REAP staff continue to aggregate and promote other resources related to the merits of an RPS for the Railbelt, including helpful write-ups from the Department of Energy and emerging reports such as the one from Energy and Environmental Economics, Inc. which finds that the Railbelt grid can integrate 300 MW of new wind without negative stability or reliability impacts, or the need for any new transmission.
Through these efforts, REAP has built a broad, bipartisan coalition of support for the passage of an RPS for the Railbelt to promote the development of local renewable energy solutions to the Cook Inlet Gas Crisis. Several individuals and organizations have expressed their support for the policy solution to the Legislature, and our state’s largest electric utility, Chugach Electric Association, has adopted a Resolution in Support of a Renewable Portfolio Standard. With critical decisions about to be made for Alaska’s energy future, REAP will be redoubling its efforts to promote the RPS as the lowest-cost energy policy solution to the Railbelt’s most pressing energy issues this session.
Right now, Alaskans have a rare opportunity to work together to pass strong energy policy in the State Legislature. Both the House and Senate are led by bipartisan majority coalitions that rank securing affordable energy among their highest priorities. This opportunity mirrors the urgency of the moment as Railbelt utilities are currently in negotiations for gas supply contracts to replace their dwindling supply of economically recoverable Cook Inlet natural gas. It is critical that policymakers pass an RPS now and provide a frame for those negotiations so that Railbelt utilities do not sign long-term take-or-pay contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports that are projected to cost approximately 50% more than the gas currently produced from Cook Inlet. Doing so would preclude the region from developing its renewable energy resources for local use and instead lock in its dependence on a foreign fuel with substantially higher and more volatile costs that will have dramatic impacts on the cost of energy, goods, and services across the state.
REAP’s Policy Team will be hosting information and resources relevant to our advocacy efforts throughout the Legislative session here on our website. We will also be broadcasting timely announcements regarding ways you can join REAP staff, members, and partners in advocating for clean energy policy solutions in the Legislature. To stay up to date, make sure you are signed up to receive our updates and action alerts by subscribing to our email list using the email address entry form at the left, and by following REAP on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X. Please keep an eye on those communications channels and please also consider sharing this information with others you know who are interested in helping us champion renewable energy policy solutions. With your support and partnership, REAP can help pass RPS legislation this session that commits the region to pursuing its lowest cost energy future and capturing the myriad related benefits that will flow from developing our local, affordable and stably-priced renewable energy resources. Thank you!
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…
learn moreAlaska Specific / Energy Policy / Legislation / Railbelt / Renewable Energy
SB 101 is currently in the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, and HB 121 is currently in the House Energy Committee. The legislators in these committees need to hear from you NOW for this critical legislation to…
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