The cheapest electricity on the planet

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 energy resource attractive to many communities.

The quality of a wind resource is key to determining the feasibility of a project, but other important factors to consider include the size of a community’s electrical load, the price of displaced fuels, turbine foundation costs, the length of transmission lines and other site-specific variables.

Alaska’s best wind resources are largely located in the western and coastal portions of the state. In parts of Southwest Alaska, turbines may actually need to be sited away from the strongest winds to avoid extreme gusts and turbulence.

While average wind speeds tend to be much lower in the Interior, areas such as Healy and Delta Junction have strong wind resources. The quality of the wind resource is very site-specific, so it is critical to measure the wind resource before starting development. 

Wind power technologies that are used in Alaska range from small systems at off-grid homes and remote camps, to medium-sized, wind-diesel hybrid power systems in more than 30 isolated villages, to large, megawatt scale turbines along the Railbelt and in communities like Kodiak, Kotzebue, and Nome.

The quality of wind resources are site-specific, so it is critical to measure before starting development. 

On the Railbelt, utilities and independent power producers have installed three wind projects to diversify the region’s energy mix and provide a hedge against rising fossil fuel prices.

Those projects are a 17.6 MW wind farm near Anchorage on Fire Island, Golden Valley Electric Association’s 24.6 MW Eva Creek wind farm near Healy and a 1.9 MW wind farm near Delta Junction. Alaska now has a total installed wind capacity of more than 67 MW.

Rural Alaska, which is largely powered by expensive diesel fuel, has seen rapid development of community-scale, wind-diesel systems in recent years. In 2009, Kodiak Electric Association (KEA) installed the state’s first megawatt-scale turbines and then doubled the size of its wind farm in 2012. The project’s six 1.5 MW turbines now supply more than 18 percent of the community’s electricity. Combined with the Terror Lake hydroelectric project, KEA can now shut off their diesel generators almost all year.

Alaska Village Electric Cooperative has wind-diesel hybrid systems installed in 12 of the 58 villages it serves, and is developing projects in at least five other communities. Unalakleet Valley Electric Cooperative added a 600 kW wind farm in 2009. Kotzebue added two 900 kW turbines in 2012, more than doubling its wind capacity. Nome also installed two 900 kW turbines in 2013. 

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Related Resources

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