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State releases local energy report DGGS has compiled all available information on fossil fuel, geothermal resources that might source energy for Alaska communities Alan Bailey Petroleum News
The threat posed to many Alaska communities by high and climbing fuel costs appears ironic, in view of the state’s prominence as a provider of energy for North America. And, in the interests of finding opportunities to enable energy-challenged state residents to take advantage of the state’s energy bounty, Alaska’s Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, or DGGS, has published a new report, documenting the various fossil fuel and geothermal energy resources that might be exploited for local community use around the state. Called “Fossil Fuel and Geothermal Energy Sources for Local Use in Alaska,” and four years in the making, the report supplements two companion Alaska Energy Authority reports on Alaska renewable energy resources such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power.
Enable energy decisions “We know that the high cost of energy is the primary concern and challenge for many communities,” said Dan Sullivan, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, when announcing the release of the DGGS report. “Our goal is to assist them in making energy development decisions.”
“The good news from these reports is that most areas of the state have some potential for local energy production — from renewable or non-renewable sources, or a combination,” said DGGS Director Bob Swenson.
“This new report is a valuable tool that extends the work begun with the ‘Renewable Energy Atlas,’” said Alaska Energy Authority Executive Director Sara Fisher-Goad. “It will also be useful in our regional energy planning efforts.”
The DGGS report compiles information about resources that could potentially be developed using existing technologies but does not attempt to evaluate the economic viability of development.
“The viability of any development would depend on whether it is competitive with alternate energy supplies,” Swanson said.
Regional differences Different regions have different potential for different types of energy, Swanson commented during a Sept. 9 press conference. And state incentives for exploration in frontier areas, while not necessarily leading to the discovery of viable energy resources, will at a minimum lead to the gathering of new data which can prove invaluable both to the Department of Natural Resources and to local communities in assessing the small-scale resource potential of an area, he said.
“Information is really the key in any type of resource development,” Swenson said. “The more information you have, the less risky that program becomes.”
One potential benefit of the information in the Alaska Energy Authority and DGGS reports is the possibility of identifying locations for regional energy hubs, improving the economics of energy development by having multiple communities share in the joint development of whatever energy resources are available in the region, Swenson said. For example, in the Kotzebue region, would it be possible to use locally produced lignite coal as a fuel in a combined biomass, wind and diesel power generation system?
Essentially, the DGGS report divides the entire state into 11 “energy regions” and then presents an overview of the fossil fuel and geothermal energy resources known to be present in each of those regions. The report also contains a comprehensive bibliography of publications on Alaska’s energy resources, thus providing a gateway into published information that has previously been fragmented in nature and hence sometimes difficult to find.
During the Sept. 9 press conference Sullivan commented on the way in which the report demonstrates the abundance of energy resources across the state, and not just in the oil and gas producing regions of Prudhoe Bay and Cook Inlet.
“The state is blessed with resources … throughout the state and in places that aren’t close to the North Slope or the Cook Inlet, at all,” Sullivan said.
Swenson commented on his surprise at the size of the coal seams that the report documents in some parts of the state. For example, there is a known coal seam about 100 feet thick near Kotzebue, he said.
Examples of remotely situated fossil fuel resources documented in the report include coal fields on the Alaska Peninsula, potential natural gas fields in the nearby North Aleutian basin and geothermal resources associated with volcanoes in the Aleutian islands and on the north side of the Cook Inlet.
Coal Coal is known to exist at numerous locations around the state, including on the Seward Peninsula; at several places in northwest Alaska; around the Bering River, east of Prince William Sound; and in several coal fields in the Alaska interior.
There are major coal fields with potential for coal and coalbed methane production around the Cook Inlet basin, in Southcentral Alaska. Massive coal deposits under the western end of the North Slope have potential as an energy source for local villages, either as mined coal or in the form of coalbed methane.
And much of the North Slope, a rich oil and gas province, remains relatively underexplored for hydrocarbon energy resources.
Natural gas There is the potential for natural gas discoveries in several sedimentary basins around the state, including the Norton basin, the Copper River basin, the Holitna basin, the Kotzebue basin, the Susitna basin, the Nenana basin, the Middle Tanana basin and the Yukon Flats basin.
Locations of hot springs, with potential for geothermal power production, include the Pilgrim Hot Springs near Nome; several hot springs in northwest Alaska and in the Alaska Interior; and some particularly promising hot springs in Southeast Alaska.
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