By Russell Stigall
Frontiersman
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MEA wants to have its own power production on line by 2015, when its power-supply contract ends with Chugach Electric Association.
Alaska has massive amounts of renewable resources. With 34,000 miles of coastline for wave and tidal power, a chain of geothermal hot-spots bubbling up the Aleutians past Wasilla, biomass from fish oil, sawmills and landfill, and Alaska's current largest source of renewable power, hydroelectric, which accounts for 24 percent of total electrical energy produced in the state.
The communities along the Railbelt Intertie - the high-voltage line strung from Seward to Fairbanks - have rich renewable options nearby.
Within 50 miles of the Intertie, near enough to connect by cable, lie three unique sources of renewable power.
The volcanic Mount Spurr has 50 megawatts of estimated renewable geothermal power. That's enough to power 50,000 homes, said Chris Rose, executive director of Renewable Energy Alaska Project.
Geothermal power is a base-load technology. Base load is consistent power needed to meet an energy provider's typical daily demand. Examples are a 1,000 megawatt geothermal facility outside San Francisco, and Iceland, which produces 99 percent of its power from geothermal and hydroelectric resources.
Adjacent to Mount Spurr is Lake Chakachamna, a potential hydropower source. South of Lake Chakachamna are Cook Inlet's Forelands. The Forelands have good to excellent wind resources.
New base-load technologies are being tested in Norway. Utsira, a small island with 240 residents, will derive its entire power needs from two wind turbines. While the wind blows, the turbines produce more power than is needed by the island's inhabitants. With the excess electricity, the town splits hydrogen from water and stores it in tanks to use for power when the wind stops, leaving no gaps in wind-generated power.
MEA's long-term plan also calls for “an additional 5 megawatts of power from renewable resources, such as wind, geothermal, tidal or small hydropower,” according to MEA's Web site. However, the co-op's 10-page executive summary shows the electric association will not add these types of renewables until 2026.
In the co-op's favor, the coal-fired electrical generator proposed to be build by 2015 can burn biomass along with Usibelli coal. MEA officials have said they would like to obtain as much as 10 percent of their power from biomass fuels, like tires, railroad ties, trees.
In an instance of unfortunate timing, Matanuska Electric unveiled its plans to build a 100 megawatt coal-fired generator the same day the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released their findings on climate change from Paris, France.
At MEA's public unveiling earlier this month several valley residents voiced concerns over Matanuska's choice of energy technology. Judy Olson of Wasilla said she thinks coal power is outdated, and that the realities of a changing world make coal power obsolete. She read quotes from the Panel on Climate Change calling for a revolution in new ideas. Coal, she said, is not a revolutionary idea.
“I have a granddaughter. I'd like for her to have a place to live,” Olson said.
Attendees also asked why MEA didn't consider renewable energy options before coal or gas. Geothermal energy, wind energy and tidal energy were all mentioned.
Tuckerman Babcock, MEA administrator, did not sugar-coat his answer.
“You can measure geothermal, you can measure wind, but wind cannot provide base load. No one believes wind can provide the base-load power,” Babcock said. Babcock went on to say that with the time lags inherent in developing a coal plant, it is too late for other proposals. MEA can't go back and spend $2 million here and there to look at wind or geothermal.
Rose, however, wasn't swayed. MEA has known for some time when its contract with Chugach would end, he said.
Alaska Energy Authority and Renewable Energy Alaska Project recently released their “Renewable Energy Atlas of Alaska,” a 24-page estimate of Alaska's hydro, wind, biomass, solar and geothermal energy resources. The atlas, filled with large maps and understandable text, can be downloaded from AEA's Web site at www.aidea.org/aea/.
Wind, geothermal, hydro and biodiesel projects will be discussed at the Rural Energy Conference in Fairbanks, April 23-24.
Contact Russell Stigall at 352-2267 or russell.stigall@frontiersman.com.
Comments
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