The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy's Alaska Energy Pioneer newsletter highlights opportunities and actions for Alaska Native villages and others who are partnering with us to explore and pursue sustainable solutions to rural Alaska’s energy challenges. Browse stories below, download the full newsletter, or read past issues of the newsletter.
DOE Poised to Build on Momentum Created by AK Tribal Energy Wins
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy is proud to sponsor the 2016 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention (AFN) Oct. 20–22 in Fairbanks. In keeping with the event’s 50th Anniversary theme, it’s an opportune time to reflect on past accomplishments, refresh our strategy, and renew our commitment to improving quality of life for Alaska Natives.
The Office of Indian Energy kicked off the Alaska Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) Program in 2012 and has been providing technical assistance in Alaska since 2013. Through those two programs we have:
- Addressed energy challenges in 16 villages through Alaska START
- Fulfilled 77 requests for technical assistance from 57 Native villages and two regional corporations
- Saved Alaska communities more than $600,000 in energy costs through Power Cost Equalization support.
“All of this work was aimed at maximizing the returns on DOE’s long-term investment of $11 million in 37 Alaska tribal energy projects between 2002 and 2014,” said Office of Indian Energy Alaska Program Manager Givey Kochanowski. “The ongoing successes have created a ton of momentum around energy in Alaska, and this past year we’ve stepped up our game in an effort to keep the ball rolling.”
Sowing Success: DOE's 2016 Investments in Alaska Clean Energy Development
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4 of the 14 tribal clean energy and energy efficiency deployment projects funded through the Office of Indian Energy are in Alaska. With a DOE investment of nearly $3 million, these 4 projects valued at more than $9 million will benefit 10 Native villages.
- 13 Alaskan communities were selected to receive technical assistance as part of the Remote Alaska Communities Energy Efficiency (RACEE) Competition. Those communities were also eligible to apply for and receive funding from DOE to execute on their plans to realize their energy pledge reductions. See "Building Bridges" in this issue for information about communities selected for award on October 20.
- In September, the Office of Indian Energy awarded 7 Alaska inter-tribal organizations and regional corporations nearly $6 million. The funding is aimed at expanding DOE’s technical assistance network in Alaska by building regional capacity.
Alaska Energy in Action
START Round 3 Update: Hoonah
Located on the northernmost island in southeast Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago, Hoonah is one of five Native villages selected in 2015 to receive technical assistance through the Alaska START Program.
As part of that support, the Office of Indian Energy, along with Indigenous Collaborations and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Sandia National Laboratories, led a strategic energy planning workshop in Hoonah in May. “We were impressed with how the workshop helped us prioritize our energy goals and establish a strategy for achieving them,” said Tribal Administrator Bob Starbard. The top priority was a wood-fired district heating system for community facilities. To help Hoonah secure funding for the project, NREL is collaborating with the Sustainable Southeast Partnership, the U.S. Forest Service, Alaska Energy Authority, and others on a feasibility study.
Resources and Opportunities
Coming Soon! Funding for Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy Projects
The Office of Indian Energy will be soliciting applications from eligible Indian tribes, including Alaska Native villages, Alaska Native regional corporations, village corporations, and tribal energy resource development organizations, for grant money to retrofit tribal buildings with energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and deploy community-scale clean energy systems. Watch our website for additional details.
New! Climate Action Resources Page
DOE Hydropower Forum Explores Potential for Tribal Projects in Alaska
The Office of Indian Energy hosted the first-ever DOE Tribal Hydropower Forum in Anchorage on Sept. 21, 2016. The event kicked off with an Alaska-focused overview of an Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) resource assessment that identified new hydropower potential from undeveloped U.S. streamreaches, including those in Alaska. Panel discussions explored the latest research and technology innovations in the small hydropower space, the various types of hydropower and their potential applications in remote Alaska, and what is working in Alaska today. Read more in our blog highlighting what ORNL’s New Stream-reach Development study revealed about the total hydropower project potential in Alaska.
Building Bridges
Announcing RACEE Winners: How Remote Alaska Communities Will Lead the Climate Fight
On October 20, at the 50th Annual Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy Director Chris Deschene announced that seven Alaska communities will receive funding from DOE in the final phase of the Remote Alaska Communities Energy Efficiency (RACEE) Competition.
A joint effort between the Office of Indian Energy and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, RACEE seeks to empower communities to develop and implement reliable, affordable, clean, and efficient energy solutions that can be replicated throughout rural Alaska and potentially in other Arctic or remote regions.
In Phase I of the Competition, 64 remote Alaska communities pledged to reduce their energy use 15% by 2020. In Phase II of the Competition, 13 of those communities were selected to receive technical assistance from the Alaska Energy Authority to develop energy efficiency plans to meet or exceed their goals. Those 13 communities were then eligible to compete for grants to implement their plans.
In the final phase of RACEE, the following communities were selected to receive up to $3.4 million in funding to put their innovative approaches into action:
- City of Galena
- Village of Holy Cross
- Village of Kiana
- Village of Klawock
- City of Noorvik
- City of Port Lions
- City of Ruby
Read more and watch a video about the awards in a blog from Deputy Secretary of Energy Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.
Alaska Receives Inter-Tribal Providers Network Funding
As part of a pilot aimed at bolstering regional capacity to implement strategic tribal energy solutions, DOE announced $7 million in funding in July for eight organizations to provide regional technical assistance to their member Indian tribes. Of those selected for award, seven were from Alaska:
- Ahtna Intertribal Resource Commission
- Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
- Calista Corporation
- Kawerak, Inc.
- NANA Regional Corporation
- Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference
- Tanana Chiefs Conference.
“The purpose of this funding is to expand the Office of Indian Energy’s technical assistance network, and the inter-tribal organizations and regional corporations in Alaska already have a framework in place for that,” explained Kochanowski. “They all have a strong track record of collaborating with regional, state, and national partners. Because of their existing partnerships and specific measureable goals for their regions, their applications were highly competitive.”
AK Energy Champions
The ANTHC Team
In 2011, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) launched the Rural Energy Initiative—a program focused on reducing operational costs of rural sanitation systems and other public infrastructure through energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. Since then, the ANTHC team has completed energy projects in more than 70 rural Alaskan communities, saving them an estimated $2.85 million annually.
Noting that sanitation systems and community facilities are often the biggest energy users in Alaska’s remote communities, Rural Energy Initiative Program Manager Eric Hanssen said his team is driven by the belief that basic sanitation should be efficient, sustainable, and affordable. “It is our aim to assist every tribal/rural community inachieving this goal,” he said. Read our interview with Hanssen highlighting the ANTHC team and their Rural Energy Initiative work.
