Update on small hydro and hydrokinetic energy projects.

• Author: White, Rindi
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Energy & Power

The state's largest hydro project, the $5.6 billion Susitna-Watana Dam is on hold indefinitely while the state digs out from its $4 billion budget shortfall, except to spend about $6.6 million through 2017. However, thanks in part to the state Renewable Energy Fund and the Emerging Energy Technology Fund, plenty of other alternative energy and power projects are moving forward.

Eight more mid-sized hydropower projects are in construction or have recently wrapped up around the state, with several more in the final design phase. All of those were funded by the state's Renewable Energy Fund, which aims to "produce cost-effective renewable energy for heat and power to benefit Alaskans statewide," according to the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) website.

"There's really not any other funding source available," says Dan Hertrich, hydroelectric program and project manager for AEA. "With hydro, every project is unique and custom and different. The Renewable Energy Fund has really been a great asset to the state."

Even in a year of tight budgets, state worker layoffs, trooper post closures, and other cost-cutting measures, the Alaska Legislature allocated $11.5 million for Renewable Energy Fund projects.

Smaller Projects Move Forward

While a $5.6 billion project is difficult to accomplish even in good fiscal times, smaller hydro projects can often be completed for less than $10 million and may provide a measurable boost for Alaska communities in the long run.

AEA's Renewable Energy Fund has helped finance several hydroelectric projects that augment existing hydro projects in some communities and, in other areas, help communities reduce or even eliminate the need for costly diesel generation.

Gartina Falls

The most recent project to be commissioned is the Gartina Falls project in Hoonah, which will serve Hoonah, Kake, Angoon, Chilkat Valley, and Klukwan through the Inside Passage Electric Cooperative.

The project has a 455 kilowatt capacity and is being built at Gartina Falls, about 4.5 miles outside Hoonah. According to AEA, the project includes construction of a penstock, access road, and powerhouse at the base of the falls.

The $8.2 million project was fully funded by grants and is expected to cut the power cooperative's need for diesel generated power by about one-third. According to Inside Passage Electric Cooperative, the communities affected use about 331,000 gallons of diesel per year, at a cost of about thirty-one cents per kilowatt hour. Gartina Falls, which was expected to be commissioned in July, should reduce diesel usage by about one hundred thousand gallons and save the community about $400,000 per year in diesel costs.

Stetson Creek

Also set to be commissioned in July was Chugach Electric Association's Stetson Creek diversion project. Following a relicensing of its Cooper Lake hydroelectric project, Chugach was required to build a diversion at Stetson Creek to reduce by a few degrees the temperature of the water flowing out of the dam, an act that was aimed at improving fish habitat.

The project...