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 Mountains and Mount Edgecumbe on Kruzof Island.
Use of geothermal resources falls into two categories: direct use and electricity production. Direct use includes applications such as district heating, greenhouses, absorption chilling and swimming pool heating.
A number of small-scale direct use projects exist across the state, but even though Alaska has locally impressive surface expressions of geothermal energy, attempts to develop Alaska’s geothermal resources for community-scale power generation have so far been unsuccessful.
Exploration in the 1980s near Mount Makushin outside of Dutch Harbor indicated that tens of megawatts could be generated from geothermal resources there and recently new plans for the resource have begun to evolve. Since 2008, several potential geothermal resources have been explored across Alaska with no commercially viable resource found. That year, the State awarded geothermal leases to Ormat Technologies, Inc. for tracts 80 miles west of Anchorage at Mount Spurr. After extensive investigations and drilling in 2011, Ormat did not encounter temperatures capable of supporting a power plant. Akutan in the Aleutians is another potential geothermal site investigated since 2008. In 2010 and again in 2017, the City of Akutan drilled exploratory wells in Hot Springs Bay Valley, encountering shallow, hot water over 350 degrees Fahrenheit, but with flow rates insufficient for electricity production.
In 2012, several exploration wells were completed at Pilgrim Hot Springs on the Seward Peninsula in order to assess the area’s resource potential, but a sufficient resource was not found. A 2011 reconnaissance study determined that a potential geothermal resource at Tenakee Inlet Hot Springs in Southeast Alaska was too remote and uncertain to warrant further exploration.
In the Interior, Chena Hot Springs Resort is an example of diverse geothermal energy use, providing heat and power to its facilities, swimming pools and greenhouses. The resort utilizes organic Rankine cycle generators with a total capacity of 680 kW that run on 165 degrees Fahrenheit water, the lowest temperature for an operating geothermal power plant in the world. In 2005, the resort installed a 16-ton absorption chiller and uses geothermal energy to keep an outdoor ice museum frozen year-round.
Chena Hot Springs Resort is an example of diverse geothermal energy use, providing heat and power to its facilities, swimming pools and greenhouses.
In 2012, several exploration wells were completed at Pilgrim Hot Springs on the Seward Peninsula in order to assess the area’s resource potential, but a sufficient resource was not found. A 2011 reconnaissance study determined that a potential geothermal resource at Tenakee Inlet Hot Springs in Southeast Alaska was too remote and uncertain to warrant further exploration.
In the Interior, Chena Hot Springs Resort is an example of diverse geothermal energy use, providing heat and power to its facilities, swimming pools and greenhouses. The resort utilizes organic Rankine cycle generators with a total capacity of 680 kW that run on 165 degrees Fahrenheit water, the lowest temperature for an operating geothermal power plant in the world. In 2005, the resort installed a 16-ton absorption chiller and uses geothermal energy to keep an outdoor ice museum frozen year-round.