Tag Archives: Hydropower

Alaska's Kenai Peninsula eyed for hydropower projects

From the Anchorage Daily News on Sunday, February 1, 2009:

An effort to find new sources of renewable “small hydro” power for the Railbelt is running into opposition from advocates of another, equally noble environmental cause: protection of the mountain headwaters of the fish-rich Kenai River.

Electric Association, working with a private consortium, is studying “low impact” small-hydro projects for four mountain lakes and streams around Moose Pass and Cooper Landing.

But the state-funded studies ran into loud opposition in the last two weeks from local residents, who foresee plenty of possible impacts from the proposed diversion pipelines and access roads, including threats to the scenic area’s salmon spawning and its tourist-based economy.

Click here to read the whole story.

University of Alaska Fairbanks to build energy research building

From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on Wednesday, January 28, 2009:

Education leaders look to be sharpening their focus on energy research, a move spearheaded by tentative plans to build a 31,000-square-foot building dedicated to energy research — everything from wind and hydrogen to coal — at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The plan is on the fast-track. If it happens, it would meet a demand for more space for energy research and testing — a need previously limited in discussion to the context of a separate project, a proposed expansion of the university’s growing engineering programs.

University leaders are talking of building the $30 million center, which would house the 1-year-old Alaska Center for Energy and Power, during the next two summers.

Click here to read the whole article.

Click here for a link to the Alaska Center for Energy and Power website.

State of Alaska energy plan not popular with some lawmakers

From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on Wednesday, January 28, 2009:

A document submitted as a state energy plan falls short of its mark, while renewable energy projects submitted for funding might go too far, legislators said.

Members of the House Energy Committee, including Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, were critical of the Alaska Energy Authority’s state energy plan as director Steve Haagenson detailed the more than 240-page volume during a hearing Tuesday afternoon.

Rep. Bryce Edgmon, a Democrat from Dillingham and committee co-chairman, said calling the report an energy plan was something of a misnomer. Instead, the report seemed a “first step” toward a state energy plan, he said.

Click here to read the whole article.

State of Alaska $100 million energy proposal

 

report cover

The State of Alaska has published its proposal for grant allocation from the Alaska Renewable Energy Fund. This money will fund the construction of a wide range of alternative energy projects throughout the state. The total proposed expenditure from the State of Alaska is $100 million, with a Federal match of approximately $300 million.

 

Click here for a link to the Alaska Energy Authority page that outlines the proposal and links to relevant documents.

Alaskan governor renews dam plans

From the Anchorage Daily News on Sunday, January 25, 2009:

Gov. Sarah Palin’s goal for Alaska to receive 50 percent of its electricity from renewable energy by 2025 is reviving long-held dreams of the state building a giant hydro project like the Susitna dam. It’s also inspiring skeptical questions about realism and expense. …

State officials began talking about damming the Susitna River in the 1970s as the North Slope oil money first started to flow into the state treasury. The state considered a version that involved dams at Devils Canyon north of Talkeetna and at Watana Creek to the east.

Click here to read the whole article.

Hydroelectric power — back in (the) black

From the Associated Press, on Monday, December 1, 2008:

There is mounting political pressure to get more energy from alternative sources and developers are pushing ambitious projects to exploit America’s biggest rivers for power.

“Some of these applications have been around for decades, but there’s renewed interest now,” said Jeff Hawk, spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Pittsburgh district. “We’ve seen a spurt of applications; we’re busier now than ever.”

A new generation of low-impact hydroelectric plants is expected to light up the Ohio River Valley. Along the Mississippi River, a city and a small startup firm have separate hopes of harnessing that artery’s energy potential either through a few big turbines or thousands of tiny, submerged ones.

Water is already the leading renewable energy source used by utilities to generate electric power.

Click here to read the whole article.

Renewable energy still stymied in Congress

From the New York Times on Tuesday, September 30, 2008:

… But while renewable energy has become a hot political buzzword, Congress has thus far failed to extend tax credits that wind, solar and other clean-energy companies say they need to stay in business.

As it stands, the tax credits currently in place expire at the end of this year.

The big-picture reason, says Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, is that renewable energy credits keep getting legislatively shackled to more controversial issues.

Click here to read the whole article.

Presidential candidates' views on energy and the environment

The links in this entry are to the official websites of the two leading presidential candidates. For further information about their positions on climate change, the economy and other issues related to sustainable living, click on the “Issues” button on the respective website home pages.*

Click here to read “Cheap, Clean, Secure Energy for America,” Republican John McCain’s views on energy use, alternative energy sources and the environment.

Click here to read “New Energy for America,” Democrat Barack Obama’s views on energy use, alternative energy sources and the environment.

*Publishing these views does not constitute endorsement of any candidates’ views.

River turbines tested in Ruby, Eagle

From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner August 17, 2008:

Interest is surging in the potential of Alaska’s powerful river currents to generate electricity using underwater turbines, but some researchers and resource managers are cautioning against unintended consequences if interest too quickly turns into commercial development.

Click here to read the whole article.

Anchorage Daily News:Hydro project revives as energy alternative

From the Anchorage Daily News July 13, 2008

About three dozen proposals stood out as winners last month in a new competition for $5 million in seed money to kick-start alternative energy projects across Alaska.

Nearly all envision medium- to small-scale projects: a wind farm on Kodiak Island (total cost: $24 million), a series of “low-impact hydro” projects in Kenai Peninsula streams ($19 million apiece), a geothermal plant at Manley Hot Springs ($880,000).

Towering over them all, however, was a giant from days gone by: an ambitious hydropower project at Chakachamna Lake, about 85 miles west of Anchorage. Total cost: $1.75 billion.

Click here to read the full article.