LB&A OKs renewable fund program

The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee on Feb. 17 signed off on a package of renewable energy projects slated for $100 million in state funds, despite the reservations of several committee members concerned the program was hurried and perhaps untimely.

LB&A originally planned to vote on the package of projects on Feb. 4, but at that meeting instead decided to randomly review the process for choosing five of the projects.

The Alaska Energy Authority, the state agency in charge of managing the funds, chose the programs from a list of applicants based on addressing high cost areas in the state first, spreading the money evenly across the state and finding projects with matching grants.

According to House Bill 152, which created the Renewable Energy Fund, AEA must present the funding program to LB&A for review, but does not need a vote of approval from the committee to move ahead on funding and managing the program.

The LB&A review found a few cases where AEA did not follow its methodology or was not comprehensive enough in its evaluations, which could increase the risk that projects won’t come in on time or on budget, or produce the intended energy at the projected cost.

But the review concluded AEA could mitigate those risks by aggressively managing the grant program, including “kill points” that cancel funding if projects don’t pass muster.

All but two members of LB&A voted in favor of moving the program forward.

Rep. Mike Doogan, a Democrat from Anchorage, and Rep. Bill Stoltze, a Republican from Chugiak, both voted against it, generally concerned about spending $100 million without a statewide energy plan in place to guide overarching funding decisions.

Other committee members expressed similar concerns, but still voted for the program.

—Eric Lidji