Energy conservation campaign returns this winter

MAT-SU — As they have in years past, Southcentral communities are teaming up to see what they can do about a possible energy crisis this winter.

Natural gas in Cook Inlet fields that supplies electrical power plants in Anchorage have trouble when demand is high. Too much gas demand can reduce pressure in the lines and impede delivery.

So the Kenai Peninsula Borough, Mat-Su Borough, and Municipality of Anchorage are again gearing up for a public information campaign to try and get the public to conserve on energy usage.

“It’s very possible that in January that will actually be necessary to avoid completely shutting down the gas fields,” Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss said in his regular podcast on the borough’s website.

Now entering its third year, the campaign, known as “Energy Watch,” will use a series of stoplight-themed warnings to let consumers know what they need to do. A green light means they should exercise normal conservation measures. Yellow is for turning down the thermostat and cutting back some activities. A red light means to cut back by any means you can.

“It could be that this winter will be our most critical in terms of a potential shortfall in gas supply,” DeVilbiss, who also is a board member for the Matanuska Electric Association, said in an Anchorage press release announcing the campaign. “Energy conservation works. For example, through conservation and awareness, MEA’s power consumption has been reduced over the last three years despite a growing population.”

Joe Griffith, MEA’s general manager has warned in previous interviews of the coming shortage and a need to find a way to fix the problem of gas supply in the inlet. He said supply won’t meet demand by 2014. Griffith has said numerous times that he predicts that before a solution can be brought online Alaska’s utilities will have to import gas from out of state.

How much that will cost is unknown. In order to be ready for a disruption in gas supply, MEA has decided to outfit the power plant going in at Eklutna with machines that can run on either natural gas or diesel. MEA is set to start providing power for itself rather than buying power from Chugach Electric Association at the start of 2015.

Just like they did last year, the Energy Watch campaign will test what conservation can do with a call for voluntary conservation from 6 to 8 p.m., Oct. 19.

“It’s always better to have a plan and hope you don’t have to use it than vice versa,” Anchorage mayor Dan Sullivan said in the same press release that quoted DeVilbiss. “We were successful in involving the public in this effort the last two year… And by working together with citizens on the Kenai Peninsula and in Mat-Su, I’m confident we’ll be successful again.”