Catch the wind? Can do.
Fire Island, just off the western tip of Anchorage in Cook Inlet, is home to a steady supply of wind, most from the southwest and north. Cook Inlet Region Inc. is clearing land and negotiating with Railbelt utilities with an aim to make electricity from that wind and sell it at competitive prices by 2012.
Those power-purchase agreements are key to gaining private financing for part of the $162 million project -- and to securing almost $70 million in federal and state grants that will cut costs and directly benefit ratepayers.
If CIRI can conclude terms with Chugach Electric, Municipal Light and Power, Matanuska Electric Association and Golden Valley Electric Association, it's likely financing will be available to keep the project on track. Meeting the feds' schedule for construction and completion deadlines is worth about $44 million; purchase agreements also will tap about $25 million for a transmission line between the island and Chugach's facility off International Airport Road.
Hence CIRI's need for purchase agreements in place by November.
With 33 turbines, the Fire Island Wind Project will be Alaska's largest. Alaska already has seen successful wind projects in Kotzebue and other rural areas, and in Kodiak, where wind added to hydro production has saved Kodiak a fortune in diesel fuel.
But wait -- didn't we just read in Sunday's Daily News about the new abundance and low prices of natural gas in the United States, making natural gas the fuel of choice and knocking wind, nuclear and coal projects for a loop?
Sure did. But that abundance is in the Lower 48, where deposits of shale gas have changed the economics of energy in just the last five years. What about Alaska? We're isolated. Here natural gas production in Cook Inlet has fallen 40 percent in the last five years. Chevron is pulling out of Cook Inlet. Despite state incentives for more exploration and production in the Inlet and the vast reserves of the North Slope, most of the state's population could be looking at much more expensive natural gas as early as 2013 -- and even the prospect of importing gas to keep lights on and homes warm. A bullet line from the North Slope or a spur line off a main gas pipeline is years away, at best.
To drive the point home, on Wednesday evening -- the same night CIRI is holding an open house about Fire Island wind at Loussac Library -- Anchorage residents will join in a conservation drill to turn down thermostats and turn off lights for two hours. The idea is to be ready in case we face pressure loss from too much demand some cold night time this winter or next.
So it makes sense for Southcentral and the rest of Railbelt Alaska to tap another energy source -- one that's clean, renewable and right at our doorstep.
Fire Island wind will not replace natural gas as our primary fuel for producing electricity. But it can meet about 3.5 percent of Southcentral's electricity needs -- and can conserve natural gas by allowing wind-generated power to substitute for it. And years of logging wind speeds have shown that Fire Island blows hardest when we most need the power -- in November, December and January.
There are other benefits as well. Fire Island fits Alaska's goal of producing 50 percent of our electricity with renewable sources by 2025. The project will provide about 200 well-paying jobs during construction, and 10-12 maintenance and operation jobs after that. Once the facility is fully up and running, CIRI says, Anchorage will gain an average of $500,000 a year in property taxes.
Thus far the city-owned utility, Municipal Light and Power, has been the most reluctant potential customer due to its strong position with access to natural gas. Right now, gas is cheaper than wind for ML&P customers. That could change, however. And Anchorage residents include Chugach and MEA customers who stand to gain with wind at the ready
This is a sound investment in the energy future of Anchorage and much of the rest of Alaska. CIRI and the utilities should strike a deal to keep construction on track -- and keep the best deal for ratepayers. Wind may be forever, but this opportunity has a deadline.
BOTTOM LINE: Fire Island wind can help keep home fires burning, and there's no time like the present.