Wind power making a difference in Alaska: wind farm construction is under way across state.

• Author: Storm, Gene
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Building Alaska

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"The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind."

--Bob Dylan, 1962

Bob Dylan's musical refrain for peace and social justice in the 1960s could well serve as an anthem for alternative energy in Alaska in 2012. Before the end of the year, energy generated by wind turbines will make significant new contributions to electrical grids in communities and villages across the state. The renewable energy generated provides, in part, an answer to issues regarding diesel fuel costs and potential natural gas supply shortages that have plagued power providers in recent years.

Uutility scale wind farm projects in Southcentral Alaska and the Interior will garner most of the attention this summer, but they are by no means the only places where wind is making a difference in energy production. In Kotzebue and on Kodiak Island, local utilities are adding new turbines to already existing wind farms.

In Southwest Alaska, the Yup'ik villages of Kwigillingok, Kongiganak and Tuntutuliak are recycling 15 refurbished wind turbines from the California desert as a hedge against the high cost of electricity generated by burning diesel fuel. The $10 million project is partially funded through the Alaska Renewable Energy Grant Fund established by the legislature in 2008. For the some 1,200 residents of the three villages, the addition of wind power will offer some welcome relief to energy costs that bear heavily on their largely subsistence way of life.

Fire Island Project Under Way

On Fire Island, three miles west of Anchorage, Cook Inlet Region Incorporated is developing the first phase of a wind farm that will have a generation capacity of 17.6 megawatts. Being developed through CIRI's subsidiary, Fire Island Wind LLC, 11 General Electric XLE 1.6 MW turbines will supply more than 50,000 MW-hours of power to Chugach Electric Association annually, enough electricity to power about 6,000 homes. It is the first phase of what could be up to 33 turbines, depending on future wind power purchase agreements.

The cost of this phase of the project is estimated at $65 million plus the cost of new transmission infrastructure. The project is expected to qualify for more than $18 million in tax credits from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009. The State of Alaska also granted $25 million for submarine and mainland transmission infrastructure.

Fire Island Wind began preparing the site in 2010, including road work and turbine pad construction...