Get with it or lose out
 Click here to go directly to this story within the full PDF version of this issue, with any maps, photos or other artwork that appears in some of the articles.
Email it to an associate.
Chris Rose: There are many business opportunities with renewable energies in the state
Alan Bailey Petroleum News
Renewable energy isn’t a silver bullet that can somehow immediately replace all use of traditional fuels, but renewable technologies such as wind, solar energy and hydropower must form part of any energy portfolio, Chris Rose, executive director of Renewable Energy Alaska Project, told the Alaska Chamber of Commerce Make it Monday Forum on Jan. 11. The Renewable Energy Alaska Project is a coalition of Alaska utilities and other entities with an interest in developing renewable energy resources.
Renewable energy presents some significant economic advantages over more traditional energy sources, Rose said.
“When you don’t have fuel costs, you can predict the price of the power,” he said. “And that’s what states and entities and corporations around the world are figuring out. … Stably priced, predictably priced power is one of the key advantages of renewable energy.”
In addition, renewables tend to be clean and lacking in carbon emissions; they can often be produced close to where they are needed; and they form inexhaustible energy sources, Rose said.
Risk management Risk management is a key issue in energy supplies, and a major risk at present in the United States is a heavy dependence on fossil fuels. Southcentral Alaska, in particular, is highly dependent on natural gas, Rose said.
There is an escalating international demand for energy, especially from countries such as China and India. Five Middle East countries hold 65 percent of the world’s remaining oil reserves. And, ultimately, the finite nature of fossil fuel supplies will drive up fuel prices, leading to the inevitable emergence of renewable forms of energy as primary energy sources, Rose said.
Consequently, investment in renewable energy is growing at the rate of billions of dollars per year, especially in the fields of wind power and solar energy. And Alaska is already missing out on a huge emerging international business opportunity, Rose said.
“There are countries right now, like Denmark, that are getting 20 percent of all electricity from wind alone,” Rose said. Iowa is now generating 15 percent of its electricity from wind, he said.
Progress in Alaska Alaska has made progress in the direction of increasing its renewable energy usage, with a state renewable energy grant fund, primarily for developments in rural Alaska, providing $125 million in funding for 107 projects over the past 20 months, with another $25 million proposed for the state’s 2010 budget, Rose said.
Under this program, and with some federal funding, Kodiak now has three massive 1.5-megawatt wind turbines that are saving about 1 million gallons of diesel fuel annually, Rose said.
“And at current prices … that’s $2 million a year (in savings) for a project that cost $21 million,” he said.
The Kodiak operation has involved the development of a control system that makes the most efficient use of wind-generated power in conjunction with diesel power and hydropower, thus making Alaska a world leader in the use of this type of integrated wind system, a system that could perhaps be exported to other countries.
“There are 2 billion people on the planet with no electricity … and many of them live in small communities very much like village Alaska,” Rose said.
Smaller projects There are a number of smaller-scale wind power systems around the state, including systems in the villages of Gustavus and Unalakleet.
Juneau Airport has installed a ground source heat pump, to save $85,000 per year by extracting energy from underground, while Tok school is installing a modern wood-fired boiler system, Rose said.
There are also some exciting possibilities for rural villages located on large, slow moving rivers, to use in-current turbine generators to harness energy from the rivers.
The village of Ruby on the Yukon River is using the first operational system of this type in the United States, Rose said. Experience in Ruby has identified improvements for the technology, and the resulting system design could be something suitable for export to the developing world.
“And of course the wave power and the tidal power potential in Alaska is tremendous,” Rose said. “… This stuff is going to happen. These technologies work. … We can and should be world leaders in this stuff. … We’re the only place in the United States where we can be doing demonstration projects and saving money at the same time.”
Railbelt projects
In the Alaska Railbelt, Cook Inlet Region Inc. is moving ahead with its commercial-scale wind farm on Fire Island, adjacent Anchorage; Ormat Nevada has done some initial investigations into the potential for a geothermal power system adjacent Mount Spurr, on the west side of Cook Inlet; and people are reconsidering the possibility of building a major hydropower system, either on the Susitna River or at Lake Chakachamna, near Mount Spurr.
And there are other potential wind and hydropower sites that could provide power for the Railbelt, Rose said.
Energy policy Against a background in which 29 U.S. states and the District of Columbia now have energy policies with renewable energy portfolios, the Alaska Legislature is considering a statewide energy policy, Rose said.
And bills at various stages in the state legislative process are addressing the funding of emerging energy technology development, the improvement of energy efficiency in Alaska public buildings and the creation of a state tax credit for renewable energy.
Both the House and Senate in Alaska are introducing omnibus energy legislation, pulling a lot of energy issues into one bill, Rose said.
Long-term decisions Alaska is at a crossroads, where within the next five years the state needs to make major long-term decisions on its energy future, Rose said.
“As a society here we have to be thinking 50 to 100 years down the road,” he said. “A lot of other societies are. They will out compete us if we don’t think that way.”
And within the next 100 years energy will need to become 100 percent renewable — it’s a question of how fast to get there, Rose said.
“It’s just a matter of time. The whole world is going to have to be moving this way, and that’s what other places are doing,” he said.
| 
