Send this article to Promobot

False Pass makes real progress with energy

March 14th 2:18 pm | Dimitra Lavrakas Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

"This was started by people before me," said Ernie Weiss, Aleutians East Borough community development coordinator and former mayor of King Cove. "The more I get into it, the more excited I get."

On Feb. 17, the Aleutians East Bay Borough Assembly passed a resolution supporting the city of False Pass' submission of an application, in partnership with AEB, for the state Department of Energy's Emerging Energy Technology fund grant for tidal energy. Abstracts were due March 2 for the first round. If the grant is awarded, the borough would be responsible for project management and grant administration. False Pass would be the owner of the utility and be in charge of operation and maintenance. If the abstract is accepted, the next step is a formal application due at the end of April.

The resolution outlined the city's role in the application process to include data collection at the city dock and underwater video

monitoring of marine wildlife. Emerging energy projects must employ technologies that are proven, but not yet

tested in Alaska and should be ready for commercial use in five years.

"We really have to stop calling it ocean energy and call it an ocean current project," Weiss said.

The vision is to look to the future and help villages wean themselves from using petrochemicals for energy generation.

"As much as possible, we'd like to make all the communities as self-sufficient as possible," Weiss said. "This is really an energy project for the entire region."

Funding will also come from the U.S. Department of Energy's Tribal Energy Program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture rural energy program. The city is also working on the application with Aleutians Pribilof Islands Association, Aleutians Pribilof Island Community Development Association, the National Renewable Energy Lab and the Ocean Renewable Power Co.

The Aleutians and Pribilofs organizations formed Aleutian Energy, with members representing Aleutian/Pribilof communities, tribes, nonprofit and profit organizations, political leaders and members from the public to address the region's energy issues.

"They refer to themselves as the 'A Team,'" Weiss said.

Ocean Renewable Power Co. offers a system that does not rely on dams, but is a turbine generator unit that works on the same principal as a wind turbine, but underwater. It has rotating foils that charge a permanent magnetic generator and because it is moving water, which is 800 time denser than air, it provides more power than wind turbines.

Bruce Wright, lead scientist at Alaska Pribilof Islands Association, said they will be lowering a Doppler profiler to calibrate tide movement for a full tidal cycle.

"The anecdotal evidence is good," Wright said. "The current along the coast runs like a river. People out there say it's always moving, and that's good. That means there would be a continuous electrical current."

Positive alternatives

Wright is absolutely bullish on the potential for energy generation from alternative sources in the Aleutians and Pribilofs.

"There's lots of geothermal in Unalaska and Akutan, and it's Iceland-like quality," Wright said. "I think we could plug the entire state into the grid.

"My objective is to get a renewable energy project in every community out there."

And Alaska does have some unusual challenges in gathering scientific data.

False Pass had done a little evaluation work, but there was trouble with bears eating the plastic on the instruments, he said.

While the region may lack a large population, it is rich in alternative energy sources, and some communities have already taken advantage of those opportunities: geothermal from its hot springs and wind generation projects are being worked on in Akutan, and the already established Delta Creek hydroelectric and the proposed hydro project at Waterfall Creek in King Cove.

 


Copyright 2012 The Dutch Harbor Fisherman is a publication of Alaska Media, LLC. This article is © 2012 and limited reproduction rights for personal use are granted for this printing only. This article, in any form, may not be further reproduced without written permission of the publisher and owner, including duplication for not-for-profit purposes. Portions of this article may belong to other agencies; those sections are reproduced here with permission and Alaska Media, LLC makes no provisions for further distribution.