Sep 14 - Alaska Journal of Commerce

By Joe Holbert, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Anchorage

If you live in rural Alaska, the news about a $40 billion natural gas pipeline and a $10 billion dam resurrection are a big deal. But for those who live in rural Alaska, the bigger issue is renewable rural energy.

More worrisome for those living beyond Alaska's urban centers are updates about the skyrocketing price of energy.

Villagers around Bethel are paying $6.20 a gallon for fuel oil and $6.70 for gasoline. About 800 miles to the southeast, Alaskans outside of Haines are paying 62 cents a kilowatt for electricity.

Rural Alaskans care as much about the big, historic issues: the natural gas pipeline and resurrecting the Susitna hydroelectric dam -- priced at $5 billion 20 years ago and estimated today at $10 billion.

The Alaska Legislature saw the need for renewable energy action.

It's an urgent issue that needs to be addressed now, said House Speaker John Harris of Valdez and fellow Republican Rep. Bill Thomas, of Haines, who were the prime sponsors of House Bill 152 creating the Renewable Energy Grant Fund.

"The goal here, and it is the intent of the legislation, to actually get progress on the ground; programs that must make a difference," Harris said. "Not a bunch of stuff on paper, but actual projects that make a difference, whether they're solar, geothermal, wind or hydro."

Renewable energy grants are not intended for theoretical research, Harris said.

"Our practical goal is real hands-on programs, not for government overhead and that sort of thing," Harris said. "It's actually doing a project."

Harris pointed to the success of Bernie Karl's geothermal hydropower plant at Chena Hot Springs Resort, near Fairbanks. The resort's power plant came online in 2006 and is the lowest temperature geothermal resource used for commercial power production in the world.

"But Alaska needs to do far more to develop that renewal energy," Harris said.

Thomas said other projects that could apply for grants include wind turbine systems, like the one in Kotzebue.

"With more wind turbine units in we should do that immediately," Thomas said.

The Haines lawmaker pointed to existing renewable energy projects in rural Alaska he considers appropriate for the grants.

"One right away is in Hoonah for their intertie and they can get federal money to match," Harris said. Other potential projects include interties in Petersburg and Kake, and from Greens Creek Mile to Hoonah.

Thomas said he also hopes to discuss a grant with the community of Tenakee.

"Tenakee's hot springs are running all of the time and I want to meet and see what they want to do," he said. "There must be a way to capture that energy."

-----

To see more of the Alaska Journal of Commerce, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.alaskajournal.com .

Copyright (c) 2008, Alaska Journal of Commerce, Anchorage

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Copyright © 2008The McClatchy Company