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We've got wind power in Alaska -- think Kotzebue now and Fire Island soon. We've got hydro -- think the Four-Dam Pool now and Chakachamna soon, maybe. We've got people in Alaska working with solar panels and good old-fashioned firewood. There are ways to make power out of sawdust and ways to harness the tides.
But to many of us these still seem like pipe dreams or individual efforts or local, limited projects. Cottage industries at best.That's what the Legislature voted to try to change with the Renewable Energy Fund.Right now the Alaska Energy Authority is going through 112 applications requesting more than $450 million in grants for projects that run the gamut of alternative energies -- wind, geothermal, hydro, tidal, biomass. According to Alaska Energy Authority spokesman Karsten Rodvik, there's a wide geographic spread as well.They won't all make the cut. Lawmakers provided $100 million for the fund in the 2009 fiscal year for Round One projects. The first round comprises the 112 in the hunt now; the fund will make its recommendations to the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee later this month with final approvals no later than the first quarter of 2009. One of the criteria for Round One projects is that they can be swiftly done.Round Two projects, those that might take longer to get off the ground, are due to the energy authority today."This is more than pie-in-the-sky stuff," Rodvik said. The goal for the fund is to allocate 80 percent of its grants for final design, permitting and construction of projects. In other words, more for building and the production of alternative, sustainable energy sources and less on studies that might languish on shelves.Rodvik said "Alaska is either at or near the forefront of the 50 states" in bankrolling alternative energies.Judging by its criteria, the authority is taking a clear-eyed, no-nonsense view of the energy frontiers. Fly-by-nighters need not apply. Criteria require that applicants be utilities, independent energy producers, local governments or government entities that can prove they have the chops to build the projects they describe.Applicants who offer matching funds of their own or from other sources also will have an edge, the idea being that the state isn't taking all the risk.Projects also must pass muster in terms of public benefit in providing more affordable energy, sustainability and local support.And they'll have to mesh with the Alaska Energy Authority's other ambitious work in progress, a statewide long-range energy plan due in December.This summer, the energy authority and the federal Denali Commission announced $5 million in grants to alternative energy projects throughout Alaska, many aimed at cutting costs in rural Alaska and building alternatives to diesel. Wind was high on those lists.None of this work puts Alaska's still vast resources of fossil fuels in the shade. The gas line project remains a top priority, with in-state access part of the deal. And the state continues to offer incentives for increased oil exploration and production.But the future -- and it's not the distant future -- is in greener, cheaper, renewable energy production. It makes good sense for Alaska to invest surplus money gained by high oil prices to keep our lights on longer and for less. BOTTOMLINE: Renewable Energy Fund offers the promise of a jump-start for cleaner, cheaper, sustainable power throughout Alaska.