Biden administration announces millions in funding for Alaska clean energy projects

Three federal agencies announced tens of millions of dollars are heading to Alaska for clean energy projects, which the Biden administration says are part of its efforts to spur economic growth, increase renewable power generation and curb climate change.

Most of the money is part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2022 bill that includes approximately $783 billion in direct spending and tax credits for domestic energy and climate programs over 10 years. The measure has been a cornerstone of Joe Biden’s agenda as president.

On Thursday, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Agriculture announced funding for projects in Alaska worth more than $64 million, with more to follow from a program upgrading the Interior electric grid that has been selected for an as-yet-to-be-determined investment amount.

The EPA’s Climate Pollution Reduction Grants are:

• $24,232,383 for two wind turbines in Toksook Bay, along with battery storage and a wind-to-heat boiler, a project overseen by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.

• $14,999,999 to the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska to set up or expand “composting and recycling infrastructure in four tribal communities and the city of Juneau.”

• $14,820,331 to the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island to install three new wind turbines, upgrade three current turbines and add battery energy storage.

• $4,942,841 to “construct a new, 70-foot-high concrete and steel storage reservoir” to the Humpback Creek Hydroelectric project for energy generation to Cordova, awarded to the Native Village of Eyak.

• $2,339,537 to the Village of Solomon for energy audits, weatherization improvements and solar energy installations for households and tribal buildings.

The Department of Energy picked the Native Village of Kotzebue as one of 12 recipients for its Communities Sparking Investments in Transformative Energy program. The tribe will receive $3,350,000 to partner with other local organizations for “local, tribally produced renewable solar energy and leverage decommissioned wind turbine infrastructure to improve resilience and reduce energy costs.” The grant program started earlier this year and is not part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Golden Valley Electric Association in Fairbanks was selected for future investments under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Empowering Rural America program. The Interior utility will use the funding for adding “up to 150 megawatts of renewable wind energy,” along with building battery energy storage and “significant transmission infrastructure to reliably interconnect large-scale variable generation” into the grid. The exact funding amount for the utility under the new program has not yet been determined.

The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in August 2022. It passed 51-50 in the Senate with only Democratic votes. Both of Alaska’s Republican senators voted against it. At the time, Alaska had nobody filling its lone U.S. House seat: Longtime Republican Rep. Don Young had passed away months earlier and Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola had not yet won the special election to serve the remainder of his term.