June 1, 2015 | By Jaclyn Brandt

The Department of Energy (DOE) is giving select Alaska Native villages assistance to implement President Obama's Climate Action Plan through the Alaska Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) Program, which provides federally-recognized Alaska Native corporations' governments with technical assistance to accelerate tribal clean energy projects and initiatives.

The five villages selected for the 2015 START program funds. Click on image to enlarge. Credit: Department of Energy.

Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood made the announcement while visiting the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.

DOE's START Alaska Program is a technical assistance program to help Alaskan villages create clean energy projects for rural energy customers. Its mission is to support help tribal communities grow sustainable energy and combat climate change to help enhance their energy security, as well as increasing their local capacity, energy efficiency, and conservation through training and public education, and increase renewable energy deployment and financing opportunities for communities and utilities.

"Alaska Native communities face urgent energy, economic, and environmental impacts," said Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall at the event. "Through the START Program, the Department of Energy is directly involved in supporting Alaska Native villages and corporations to develop and implement innovative, sustainable solutions."

The five project recipients in the third round of announcements are:

• Hoonah Indian Association, a Tlingit community on Chichagof Island, located in Alaska's panhandle in the southeast region of the state, 30 miles west of Juneau.
• Huslia Village, located on the north bank of Alaska's Koyukuk River, about 170 river miles northwest of Galena and 290 air miles west of Fairbanks.
• Kokhanok Village, located on the south shore of Lake Iliamna, Alaska, 22 miles south of Iliamna and 88 miles northeast of King Salmon.
• Organized Village of Kwethluk, located in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta on the Kwethluk River, Alaska, approximately 338 miles west of Anchorage and 20 miles east of Bethel.
• Native Village of Shungnak, located on a bluff rising above the west bank of the Kobuk River, Alaska, about 10 miles downstream from the village of Kobuk and 150 air miles east of Kotzebue.

The communities will be assisted by the Department and its national laboratories, as well as the Denali Commission and local and national experts.

DOE chose the five recipients based on their ability to demonstrate achievable energy or cost savings; implement renewable energy or energy-efficiency projects; develop an energy road map and establish an energy goal; ensure commitment from community leadership; participate in Energy Department- or other agency-sponsored technical assistance, trainings, or workshops; and identify a local climate action energy champion.

The Alaska START Program launched in 2011, and so far has provided assistance to 11 communities.

"A recent example of a village that has made significant progress is Minto, a small Alaska Native community 126 miles northwest of Fairbanks grappling with fuel and electricity costs exceeding $75,000 annually to run its Lakeview Lodge," DOE explained. "Through Alaska START, Minto received assistance in prioritizing energy efficiency improvements and successfully applying for grants to make much-needed weatherization upgrades to the building, which is used daily for school and senior lunch programs, community meetings, and village council operations. The changes are projected to result in at least a 30 percent improvement in energy efficiency once the project is complete."

The assistance for the five tribes will begin in June 2015 and run through June 2018.

For more:
- see this past project

http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/doe-driving-tribal-clean-energy-alaska/2015-06-01