Large solar array means 2 Northwest Alaska villages can turn off diesel power for hours a day

A brand new $2.2 million photo voltaic farm is producing energy in two Alaska villages above the Arctic Circle, the place power prices are among the many highest within the state.

The 225-kilowatt mission in Shungnak, in Northwest Alaska, is uncommon as a result of the tribal authorities in that village and in close by Kobuk personal the farm and can promote the ability to the Alaska Village Electrical Cooperative, the most important electrical utility in rural Alaska.

“That is the primary time we entered into an influence buy settlement with anybody,” mentioned Invoice Stamm, the chief government for the utility. “We purchase the ability from the neighborhood and it’s placing a reimbursement into the neighborhood.”

The ability is utilized in Shungnak and in Kobuk, related with {an electrical} intertie about 10 miles away. The communities have a complete inhabitants of about 450 residents. They’re about 450 miles northwest of Anchorage.

The photo voltaic array was accomplished final fall, simply as winter darkness was setting in.

Now, with lengthy spring days afoot, it’s getting its first actual check. The photo voltaic farm has been producing a lot energy that it has allowed the diesel-fed energy plant to close down for a number of hours a day, mentioned Billy Lee, a Shungnak resident who serves on the power committee for the Northwest Arctic Borough, the regional authorities.

“The diesel turbines have been off for about seven hours yesterday and the opposite day, with no burning of fossil fuels,” Lee mentioned on Friday. “It’s nice for us.”

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Not many communities in Alaska have the power to close down their diesel energy vegetation and use solely renewable energy, Stamm mentioned. The chance to take action ought to develop within the coming weeks as energy demand falls, as temperatures heat and village residents journey to subsistence camps for fishing and searching, he mentioned.

The mission is anticipated to cut back diesel prices within the village by about $200,000 yearly, eliminating the necessity for about 25,000 gallons of gasoline, Stamm mentioned.

It’s anticipated to result in barely decrease electrical energy costs and can cut back greenhouse gasoline emissions by burning much less diesel gasoline, he mentioned.

In one other first for the utility, which operates near 50 energy vegetation in rural Alaska, the mission consists of massive batteries to retailer the solar energy for one to 2 hours after the solar goes down, he mentioned.

The system makes use of a complicated controller to easily handle the differing sources of energy on the system: battery, photo voltaic or diesel, he mentioned.

“These are the 2 elements which have made this kind of mission extra reasonably priced and manageable,” he mentioned, referring to advances in battery energy and the power-management system.

The photo voltaic array in Shungnak is only one of a number of massive business photo voltaic tasks underway in Alaska, mentioned Chris Rose with Renewable Vitality Alaska Undertaking, which advocates for extra renewable energy.

Pure gasoline and diesel gasoline are used to make many of the electrical energy in Alaska’s communities, however they’re very costly in comparison with the Decrease 48, Rose mentioned.

“Persons are trying on the options and realizing they will generate energy cheaper than utilities,” he mentioned.

Alongside the Alaska Railbelt within the state’s most populated area, personal entities are pursuing massive business photo voltaic tasks in each Houston within the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and on the Kenai Peninsula, he mentioned.

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The Shungnak photo voltaic array can produce about one-fifth of the ability of a privately owned photo voltaic farm put in in Willow in 2019, Stamm mentioned.

Shungnak and Kobuk have a number of the highest electrical energy costs in Northwest Alaska and within the U.S., mentioned Ingemar Mathiasson, the power supervisor for the borough.

A gallon of diesel gasoline simply exceeds $10 a gallon when water ranges drop on the Kobuk River and forestall gasoline barges from reaching the villages. When that occurs, planes should fly in comparatively small a great deal of diesel, including to prices.

The brand new photo voltaic array will offset annual diesel gasoline use by greater than 10%, probably a lot larger, Mathiasson mentioned.

“We’ll see if we are able to get to 30%,” Mathiasson mentioned.

The mission is a partnership made up of many entities, together with NANA Regional Corp., representing Alaska Natives from the Northwest area, in addition to the villages, officers concerned within the mission mentioned.

The Division of Agriculture and the Denali Fee, a federal company created to enhance infrastructure in Alaska, supplied a lot of the funding.

The borough contributed about $400,000 by way of the village enchancment fund supported by a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes settlement with Teck, the operator of the Pink Canine zinc mine within the area, Mathiasson mentioned.

Mathiasson mentioned the borough has set a purpose of constructing photo voltaic installations for the ten villages within the area exterior Kotzebue. The hub metropolis for the area is residence to rural Alaska’s largest photo voltaic array, owned by the Kotzebue Electrical Affiliation.

Subsequent as much as obtain a photo voltaic array is Noatak, one other village with excessive gasoline costs, Mathiasson mentioned.

Plans are underway to construct a 275-kilowatt photo voltaic array in that Northwest Alaska neighborhood of 420, bigger than the one in Shungnak, he mentioned.

The tasks are vital partly as a result of they create native jobs, Mathiasson mentioned.

Development for the Noatak array ought to start quickly, he mentioned, and it needs to be working subsequent summer season.

“The concept is to reap power when it’s there, like we do with our different sources, caribou and berries and the whole lot else on the market,” Mathiasson mentioned.