New Initiative: In 2007, for the first time ever the Denali Commission set aside funding specifically for alternative and renewable energy projects. Our Work Plan for federal fiscal year 2007 was approved by the Commissioners on May 31, 2007 in Dillingham: that authorized us to fund up to $5 million in alternative-renewable energy projects.

Five million dollars sounds like a lot of money, but it doesn't go far in project construction--or sometimes even in design and feasibility study terms. In order to make the best use of these limited funds, we undertook a statewide inventory of interest in alternative energy projects. That was the Letter of Interest (LOI) issued jointly with Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) last summer.  There was exceptional response to that LOI, as we have mentioned in past energy program updates. We received information on 181 separate potential projects or studies. A summary report of these responses is available at FY07 LOI. For another view of the wide range of type and cost of these responses, look at these charts: LOI Cost and LOI Resource.

On December 7th, we issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Alternative Energy Projects. This RFP was crafted to try to provide funding opportunities for a diverse range of projects across the state, based on the input we received from the LOI and our newly appointed Energy Advisory Committee. Both Denali Commission and Alaska Energy Authority contributed funds to the RFP, although Commission funds will only be used for projects in rural areas, while AEA funds may be applied statewide.  Another new feature of this RFP is that there are separate applications for construction-ready projects and for pre-construction activities. See our website or the AEA website the for information and application forms for this RFP.  Applications must be received by February 12th.

President Bush signed a Consolidated Funding Bill on December 26th, which includes the Commission ' s federal fiscal year 2008 funding under Energy and Water appropriations. Our funding under this appropriation can be applied to any of our authorized purposes, but in the past, most has gone to the Energy Program. For FY08 we received $21.8 million; 66% less than the $50 million received in FY07 and FY06.   The funding for both of the current energy RFP ' s was secured in FY07, so applications under those will not be affected by FY08 funding. Appropriation levels for most other programs remain similar to those received in FY07.

The Commission will be soliciting comments on our draft FY08 Work Plan for 30 days, prior to our next quarterly meeting at the end of February. That Work Plan will help define funding strategies for all our programs this year, including Energy and Alternative Energy. The Work Plan will be posted on our web site, and in the Federal Register. Please take a moment to review it and provide your input.