Alaska Village Electric Cooperative (Joint Venture with Stebbins Native Corporation) – 2018 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, Inc. (AVEC) and Stebbins Native Corporation (SNC), through a joint venture, will install a 900-kilowatt (kW) turbine to provide wind energy to two remote communities in rural Alaska.

This project will serve approximately 328 buildings in Stebbins and St. Michael, Alaska. It will reduce diesel fuel use by approximately 104,700 gallons each year, resulting in savings of approximately $11.4 million over 25 years.

AVEC is nonprofit electric utility providing electrical services to 58 remote rural Alaska villages. AVEC has the largest service area of any retail electric cooperative in the world. AVEC uses 170 diesel generators and purchases more than 8 million gallons of fuel annually. These generators produce electric power for member communities, running a cumulative total of more than 375,000 hours per year. In 2017, AVEC generated more than 115 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) in power sales.

SNC is an Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act village corporation. AVEC and SNC have formed the AVEC and SNC Renewable Energy (ASRE) joint venture to address energy issues in two AVEC member communities and, specifically, to complete the Stebbins/St. Michael Renewable Energy Construction Project.

By stabilizing energy costs, reducing diesel use, and curbing air emissions, this project meets the long-held planning goals of the communities’ cities and tribal councils as well as those of the Alaska Native regional corporation, the state of Alaska, and federal energy organizations.

The overarching goal of this project is to stabilize energy costs in Stebbins and St. Michael by providing 100% of the wind energy produced to all (~328) buildings in both communities. Objectives for this project are to reduce diesel fuel use for power generation in Stebbins and St. Michael by about 104,700 gallons per year, stabilize energy costs and the volume of transported fuel through reduced fuel use, reduce energy costs for about 80 buildings, increase opportunity for local economic development and local hire, and improve air quality through reduced fossil fuel emissions.

The specific expected results of this project are: 1) production and use of net 2,529 megawatt-hours (MWh) of wind power annually from a clean and renewable energy source, and 2) displacement of approximately 104,700 gallons per year of diesel fuel that would otherwise have to be purchased and transported to Stebbins, thereby saving approximately $365,403 and avoiding 1,645 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually while lowering fuel spill risks.

This project will serve the communities through use of an electrical intertie. By adding a wind power generating system, this project will benefit all residents of both communities (they are 95.32% and 92.2% Native Alaskans and tribal members, respectively) by stabilizing the cost of electric power and increasing energy security and resilience. The wind turbine is expected to produce 2,529 MWh/year—approximately 50% of the total energy generated in both communities—and serve approximately 328 buildings.

This wind energy project will be built near the Alaskan community of Stebbins on SNC land and adjacent to the road that connects the Villages of Stebbins and St. Michael. It will serve both communities via an electrical intertie that was constructed along the Stebbins/St. Michael Road in 2015.

The project was competitively selected under the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Indian Energy Fiscal Year 2018 funding opportunity announcement “Energy Infrastructure Deployment on Tribal Lands - 2018” (DE-FOA-0001847) and started in May 2019.

The project status reports provide more information.