NativeEnergy helped fund three 100kW wind turbines in the remote village of Toksook Bay, Alaska.

NativeEnergy’s customers helped fund a significant operations and maintenance reserve for three Northwind 100 kW turbines built in the village of Toksook Bay, Alaska, which began operations in July 2006.

Owned and operated by the non-profit Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, these three turbines produce about 550,000 kilowatt-hours per year. Every kilowatt-hour they produce means one less kilowatt-hour is generated by the diesel generators that otherwise provide power for this village.

To be competitive with the diesel generators, the turbines need to be able to produce power for 15 cents per kWh or less. As the turbines need to operate in extremely harsh conditions and are only accessible by air, weather permitting, our funding of the operations and maintenance reserve is helping avoid the significant periods of “down time” that the Coop’s prior projects had experienced due to inadequate O&M funding.

As “first of their kind” projects in this region, the projects will set precedents for broader implementation. Our goal was to provide sufficient O&M funding to ensure that these projects demonstrate that wind power is economic in Alaska Native villages, and thus worth replicating.

Sustainable Development Benefits

• Initially projected to reduce 9,200 metric tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution
• Replaces polluting diesel-generated electricity with renewable energy

Project Participants

This project is a collaboration between the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative and NativeEnergy.

Validation and Verification

This project’s emissions reductions were quantified using the Climate Neutral Network methodologies.

Financial Additionality

This project meets NativeEnergy’s stringent additionality criteria, as our funding was necessary to the project’s implementation.