Association of Village Council Presidents – 2014 Project

NOTE: Project pages are being updated regularly to reflect changes, if any; however, some of the information may be dated.

Summary

The Association of Village Council Presidents (AVCP) will engage in a cooperative effort with the Department of Energy (DOE) that will provide tribal leaders and staff from 56 Alaska Native village tribal governments with information about the policies and programs of the Department, support regional workshops and forums, and provide directed technical assistance for community energy planning and initial energy project support.

AVCP will share information with Alaska Native village tribal leaders and staff through a variety of formats that include:

• Regional and village-specific briefings and stakeholder meetings

• DOE regional workshop and briefings support

• Outreach materials such as briefing papers, web briefs, webinars, and newsletters.

Upon request and approval by DOE, AVCP will provide technical assistance to Alaska Native village tribal governments for the DOE Alaska Strategic Technical Assistance Response Team (START) Program, and on-request community-based energy planning, project evaluation, and prioritization assistance.

The purpose of this cooperative agreement is based on the mission that AVCP and DOE have in common. AVCP has been a critical player in accomplishing what Alaska Native communities need since 1964, with the ultimate goal of providing better energy assistance to the Alaska Native residents of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Region.

One of the 13 regional Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Native Associations, AVCP is a regional, nonprofit Alaska Native Corporation that provides a broad stream of social services, programs, technical assistance, training, and advocacy to the 56 Alaska Native villages/federally recognized Indian tribes residing in 46 villages scattered over a 59,000-square-mile region in remote western Alaska along the Yukon River, Kuskokwim River, and Bering Sea Coast.

The AVCP/DOE partnership will enable AVCP to assist remote Alaska Native villages in the region with energy planning, and clean energy and energy efficiency project development that will result in lower power and heating costs. This project provides the resources for AVCP to respond to requests for technical assistance from the Alaska Native villages in their region, as well as allowing AVCP to contribute to the education and capacity of Alaska Native village and corporate leadership, staff, and utility managers.

The project’s objectives are to support Alaska Native villages and corporations located in the Calista Region with developing and deploying clean energy and energy efficiency projects that reduce the cost of energy for rural, remote Alaska Native villages. The project will assist DOE, through information sharing, education, and capacity-building support, as well as directed technical assistance support, with these energy development goals.

Project activities include information sharing, education and capacity-building through a regional workshop, reaching out to tribal leaders, and development of educational materials. AVCP will also provide directed technical assistance to Alaska Native village tribal governments.

The project activities are described in more detail below.

1) Information Sharing, Education, and Capacity-Building

a)    Regional Workshop/Forum

• AVCP will plan, organize, and staff one regional meeting, subject to funding under this agreement. Regional meeting will provide DOE an opportunity to present a project development and finance workshop/forum that gives tribal and corporate leaders, staff, utility managers, and other entities involved in village energy development efforts training and updated information about renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.
• Meeting will generally be held in Bethel, or jointly with other planned events, including other regional meetings.

b)    Tribal Leader Outreach and Education Materials

• AVCP staff will assist DOE with researching, writing, and publishing concise educational and information briefing materials for distribution to Alaska Native village tribal leaders and staff. Topics will be mutually determined by AVCP and DOE staff, based upon expressed interest from Alaska Native village tribal and corporate leaders, utilities, and staff.
• Education and outreach materials produced under this agreement may include the following:
  • Online web announcements. Posting information about energy development, DOE program information, and other relevant information about energy events.
  • Webinars (2-3). Webinars for Alaska Native village and corporate leaders, staff, and utility managers could include presentations by DOE, federal, and other state energy program officials about issues related to the clean energy and energy efficiency project development. The webinars will be promoted through e-mail blasts, web page highlights, and correspondence with AVCP membership. Webinars are archived for continuing access by interested parties.
  • AVCP will also promptly respond to information requests from Alaska Native village and corporate leaders, staff, and utility managers on issues relating to the clean energy and energy efficiency project development.

2) On-Request Technical Assistance

a)    Directed Technical Assistance: AVCP will provide directed technical assistance to requesting Alaska Native village tribal governments or Alaska Native Corporations for community-based energy planning, project evaluation, and prioritization. Specifically, experienced AVCP staff members will provide assistance to Alaska Native village tribal governments and Alaska Native Corporations that have requested direct technical assistance from DOE for the following types of assistance.

b)    Community-based Energy Planning: AVCP will prepare, organize, and conduct a two-day energy planning workshop in an Alaska Native village, support energy project evaluation and prioritization, and assist with drafting a community energy plan. (Estimate 4-5 village requests.)

c)    Project Evaluation Analysis: Using National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) models, Alaska Energy Authority resource information, and community energy data, AVCP will assist Alaska Native villages, corporations, and/or utilities with high-level project evaluation and analysis, including installed costs, generation, energy savings, and economic and financial performance estimations. (Estimate 4-5 village requests.)

d)    START Program Support: AVCP will provide support to the DOE Alaska START Program for community energy planning and project evaluation analysis.

3) AVCP Capacity-Building

Increase the capabilities and capacity of AVCP staff to support clean energy and energy efficiency development in the Calista Region through DOE workshop and training opportunities. Training opportunities will include energy planning facilitator training, NREL training on renewable energy models, and a train-the-trainer project development workshop.

The AVCP region consists of the Bethel and Kusilvak Census Areas. Out of 3,142 counties and census areas nationwide, the Kusilvak Census Area ranks in the top 1% in poverty and the Bethel Census Area ranks in the top 7%. The high cost of energy is detrimental to the already cash-poor economy. Subsistence hunting and gathering have enabled the region to grow in population, which has increased by 8% since 2010.

This project will focus on multiple remote western Alaska Native villages/federally recognized Indian tribes residing along the Yukon River, Kuskokwim River, and Bering Sea Coast.

This project is complete. For details, see the final report.

AVCP was approved by DOE to provide technical assistance to Alaska Native village tribal governments for the DOE START Program. This project started in March 2015.

For current project status or additional information, please contact the project contacts.