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Railbelt wind power?
Two companies tell RCA about their evaluations of promising wind farm sites
Alan Bailey for Petroleum News
During a Feb. 26 meeting of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska two companies talked to the RCA commissioners about their joint efforts towards developing wind farms in the Alaska Railbelt region.
Matt Perkins, chief executive officer of Alaska Renewables, told the commission that his company had formed four years ago in response to Fairbanks electricity utility Golden Valley Electric Association's request for information for proposals for renewable energy projects. Alaska Renewables subsequently considered every technology that is available and tried to determine what would be fastest, most financeable and most feasible, Perkins said.
And, having developed the beginnings of a renewable portfolio, about a year ago Alaska Renewables competitively found a partner company, with experience with renewable assets of the type envisaged for the Railbelt. That company is Longroad Energy, the other company represented at the RCA meeting. Longroad has experience of developing and acquiring 5.6 gigawatts of renewable energy projects, including solar and wind farm projects.
Chad Allen, Longroad's director of development, commented that his company has four distinct funding sources, including New Zealand's state pension fund. The company focuses on developing and operating renewable energy facilities, Allen said. It owns and operates a number of solar and wind farms across the United States.
Five wind farm sites Alaska Renewables and Longroad are currently evaluating five wind farm sites that could potentially connect to the Railbelt electrical system: Chatanika Wind, northeast of Fairbanks; Shovel Creek, west of Fairbanks; Walker Dome, near Healy; LMS, northwest of Anchorage and west of the Susitna River; and Bald Hills, to the west of Beluga on the northwest side of the Cook Inlet.
Perkins said that in evaluating potential renewable energy projects the companies had considered factors such as gas demand from the Cook Inlet and the need to phase development to accommodate the technical capabilities of the electricity grid and the readiness of customers for the use of renewable energy. Other important issues include impacts on the landscape and proximity to roads and the transmission grid, he said.
The five selected wind farm projects offer the benefit of being spread across a wide geographic area and, thus, being uncorrelated in terms of the fluctuations in their power outputs.
"The wind is blowing at different times to different volumes in these different places," Perkins said.
All of the projects present the possibilities of average generation capacities of around 200 megawatts.
However, the low capacity of the current Alaska Railbelt electricity transmission system currently constrains how much power can be delivered over long distances. In particular, a significant portion of the power output from the three wind farms in the Fairbanks region could not be supplied to Southcentral across the existing transmission line.
Preliminary work in progress At this point the companies have been moving ahead with preliminary work relating to the Shovel Creek project, conducting a wind resource assessment and mechanical loads analysis, to firm up the numbers for parameters such as production capability. And, before a final investment decision can be made it will be necessary to sign power purchase agreements with one or more utilities.
Allen commented that the companies are evaluating all of the projects in terms of the wind resources and wind patterns. Every project has to go through a suitability analysis, with turbine manufacturers then determining what equipment they are willing to supply for each site, he said.
Asked about the potential impact of possible pauses in tax credits under the new federal administration, Allen commented that any pauses in the credits would have an impact but would not necessarily prevent projects moving forward -- ultimately tax credits impact the cost of power to customers.
Asked about any discussions with Railbelt electricity utilities, Perkins commented that his company has been one of the evaluated parties in response to GVEA's original RFI and that the company had been shortlisted for evaluation following an RFI issued by Anchorage based Chugach Electric Association in 2021.
Grid integration Perkins said that studies into the integration of the Shovel Creek project with the electricity grid had indicated that the integration would be challenging but feasible. A team at GVEA, in collaboration with other utilities, anticipates completing the cost modeling for system interconnection, integration and regulation by April and May of this year, he said. Probable grid upgrades for the integration would likely represent a relatively small component of the total project cost, he added.
Technologies for stabilizing power generation from wind farms include transmission system upgrades, battery energy storage systems, high resolution wind forecasting and the use of state-of-the-art inverters for connecting wind farms to the grid.
In addition, it would be possible to use existing hydropower and thermal power generation facilities to counterbalance fluctuations in wind power output, Perkins said.
Phased development Perkins commented that the development of a wind farm would likely be conducted in a phased manner, with perhaps 30 megawatts, 50 megawatts and 80 megawatts coming online per year, over a two- or three-year construction period, depending on the project.
Perkins also stressed the importance of public engagement in renewable energy projects, with his company holding community meetings where people can voice their concerns. He said that his company had established land control for all five potential projects, through a process involving opportunities for public comments.
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