Alaska Energy Authority, Tanana Chiefs Conference Split $125M for Solar Power
Leungchopan | Envato
Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC) and the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) are each getting huge chunks of federal cash to develop residential solar power systems for low-income and disadvantaged communities. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded $62,450,000 to each body through the Solar for All grant competition.
Supercharge Solar Deployment
The grant to AEA is among forty-nine state-level awards EPA announced last week totaling approximately $5.5 billion, along with six awards totaling more than $500 million to serve tribes and five multistate awards totaling approximately $1 billion.
These awards are part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, created under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
EPA estimates that the sixty Solar for All recipients will enable more than 900,000 households nationwide to deploy and benefit from an estimated four gigawatts of solar energy capacity installed over five years. EPA anticipates that the $7 billion investment will generate more than $350 million in annual savings on electric bills and reduce 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions cumulatively.
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AEA’s program will deploy solar photovoltaic infrastructure across Alaska, encompassing urban, residential projects and community-scale, rural projects. AEA is partnering with the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC). While AEA administers community solar installations, AHFC will administer residential rooftop solar for low-income and disadvantaged households.
This program is meant to offer Alaskans further access to renewable energy while also developing the local workforce to install and maintain the technology. The program is expected to mobilize further financing and private capital to advance additional deployment of greenhouse gas and air pollution-reducing projects.
TCC, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and AHFC each have developed programs to provide tribal residents throughout Alaska the opportunity to benefit from solar energy. Whether a tribal member owns a house with sufficient capacity to manage distributed generation, or if the person lives in a community that operates an isolated microgrid where rooftop solar isn’t feasible, all tribal residents of Alaska will have the opportunity to benefit from the TCC project.
EPA Region 10 Administrator Casey Sixkiller says, “This funding will be used to supercharge the deployment of solar power in communities, create jobs, make our power grid more resilient, and lower the cost of energy for every household.”
The sixty applicants selected for funding were chosen through a competition that included review from hundreds of experts in climate, power markets, environmental justice, labor, and consumer protection. The selected applicants have committed to delivering on the three objectives of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: reducing climate and air pollution; delivering benefits to low-income and disadvantaged communities; and mobilizing financing to spur additional deployment of affordable solar energy.
Making History
The track of oil and gas development in Alaska shows the footprints of bold companies and hard-working individuals who shaped the industry in the past and continue to innovate today. The May 2024 issue of Alaska Business explores that history while looking forward to new product development, the energy transition for the fishing fleet, and the ethics of AI tools in business.