AWARD: Magazine touts state's first power plant that uses the renewable energy.
Chena Hot Springs Resort's new geothermal unit has won recognition as project of the year in the renewables category in an international competition sponsored by Power Engineering Magazine.
The award was presented Nov. 27 in Orlando, Fla., at the Power Gen conference. The alternative energy project, which came online in August, was funded in part by an Alaska Energy Authority Power Project Fund loan.
Gwen Holdman, vice president of new business development for the Chena Hot Springs Resort, also credited project partners at the U.S. Department of Energy and United Technologies Corp.
Chena Power is a local energy power producer located some 57 miles northeast of Fairbanks and is not connected to the grid. The project consists of a 400-kilowatt Organic Rankine Cycle geothermal power plant, with technology especially developed for the project by United Technologies. The facility, with innovations that include a low-temperature boiler dubbed the "Chena Chiller," is the first power plant operated off fluid from a geothermal resource in Alaska.
Additionally, the power plant will replace a 200-kilowatt diesel genset, displacing more than 97,500 gallons of diesel per year, with 100 percent of the resort's power eventually to be met with geothermal generation.
According to AEA program manager Rebecca Garrett, Chena Power was saving 291 gallons of diesel per day as of the end of September, with more savings projected once a second 200-kilowatt unit comes online.
AEA officials said the geothermal power plant, the first in the state, is a major milestone in the use of low-temperature geothermal resources. The new plant is expected to reduce costs from 30 cents per kilowatt hour to 7 cents, resort officials said.
The resort also is using geothermal energy for its 4,320-square-foot greenhouse, which provides the resort's restaurant with a variety of fresh produce on a year-round basis. Crops include tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, peppers, cucumbers and numerous greens and herbs.
Chena Hot Springs is also working in partnership with the University of Alaska Forestry and Agriculture Experiment Station on a controlled-environment research project to investigate opportunities for establishing similar projects throughout the state, using geothermal or other waste-heat streams.
