Northwest Alaska Native Association Regional Corporation - 2007 Wind Project

Summary

The Northwest Alaska Native Association (NANA) Regional Corporation (NRC) has committed to the long-term energy security of the NANA region by committing to the development of a strategic energy plan and analyzing the energy options available to tribal members and shareholders in the NANA region. One of the energy options available is a documented and abundant wind regime. To promote energy security, NRC will be developing the NANA Wind Resource Assessment Program (NANA WRAP) for the region. The goal of the NANA WRAP is to ascertain the feasibility of wind potential in NANA region communities.

Project Description

The methods to be employed to ascertain wind potential are industry-based standards germane to a wind resource assessment program. This will include: installing anemometers; collecting wind data for a minimum of one year; analyzing the data from a technical, financial and socioeconomic perspective; and modeling various wind-diesel hybrid technologies with the available wind data. The anticipated benefits of this program are to reduce the impact of the cost of energy on the NANA region by providing a renewable energy alternative. This alternative could help stabilize the cost of energy and provide long-term socioeconomic benefits to village households. With affordable energy, people can afford to stay in their home communities and help avert rural migration to regional/urban centers. The desired outcomes for this first phase are to: identify sites in the NANA region that have the highest potential for wind energy development; assure that the economics are favorable to developing wind-diesel sites; identify impacts (both positive and negative) associated with the development of wind energy; fully understand the technical issues involved in development; and communicate findings to external stakeholders.

Objective

The NANA WRAP's strategic objectives are as follows:

Identify wind monitoring sites and initiate wind data collection.
Collect wind data and communicate preliminary data to project stakeholders for a period of one year.
Analyze one year of wind data for technical and economic feasibility and prioritize wind power generation sites for development in the NANA Region.

The wind energy will be quantified by installing anemometers, sometimes using previously identified sites. NRC and NANA Pacific will achieve the prescribed outcomes of this project through a participatory planning effort involving regional stakeholders and various energy authorities within Alaska.

Project Location

NRC is an Alaskan Native regional corporation, serving over 11,400 shareholders of the NANA region and its traditional communities. Located 33 miles north of the Arctic Circle on the Chukchi Sea, the NANA region also constitutes the boundaries of the Northwest Arctic Borough (NWAB). The NANA region population is estimated to be roughly 7600 people, of which 75% are of Inupiat Eskimo descent. Eleven individual communities are located within the NANA region and each is represented by an Indian Reorganization Act federally recognized tribal council. Subsistence activities such as fishing and hunting of caribou, moose and seals remains an integral part of the regional lifestyle.

Project Status

This project is complete. For details, see the final report, Appendix I, and Appendix II.

The project was competitively selected under the Tribal Energy Program's fiscal year 2007 solicitation, "Feasibility of Renewable Energy Projects on Tribal Lands," and started September 2007. The November 2007, November 2008, and November 2009 project status reports provide more information.

Tribe/Awardee Northwest Alaska Native Association (NANA) Regional CorporationLocation Kotzebue, AKProject Title Wind Strategic Energy PlanType of Application FeasibilityDOE Grant Number DE-FG36-07GO17076Project Amounts DOE: $149,900 Awardee: $44,323 Total: $194,223Project Status CompleteProject Period of Performance Start: September 2007 End: December 2009