Energizing Alaska: Electricity Around the State

This publication is mostly about electricity in Alaska: how it’s generated, how much fuel is used to produce it, how fuel sources have shifted over time, and how prices vary. An inside foldout map shows how individual communities throughout the state generate electricity. But besides looking in detail at electricity, it also reports more broadly on energy in Alaska. It includes our estimates of all the types of energy produced and consumed in Alaska, and summarizes changes over time in the prices and amounts of energy Alaskans use. The information is from analyses we prepared for the Alaska Energy Authority (see back page). We’ve used the best and most recent data, but there’s a two-year time lag before some types of data are available, and in other cases we made estimates, based on limited information. About 57% of the electricity Alaskans use is generated by natural gas, another 22% by hydropower, 15% by diesel, and 6% by coal. Wind still produces a very small part of electricity statewide, but use of wind power is growing rapidly. Figure 1 previews the more detailed foldout map, showing how some communities around Alaska generate electricity. Many places use more than one power source. Here we first highlight some findings and then provide more detail inside. • Utilities around Alaska used about 1.7 million barrels of diesel, 40 billion cubic feet of natural gas, and 410 thousand tons of coal to produce electricity in 2010 (Figure 1). But converting energy sources to electricity is a very inefficient process. In 2008, Alaska’s electrical sector consumed about three times as much energy as it produced in electricity (Figure 4). • Six times as much electricity was produced in Alaska in 2010 as in 1970, with an increasing share from natural gas and hydropower and a declining share from coal. Wind power was also introduced (Figure 2). • Use of electricity from hydropower increased more than 10% per capita in Alaska since 1975, even as the population more than tripled. A number of large and small hydroelectric projects were constructed over the past several decades, largely subsidized by federal and state money. • More than two dozen utilities will be using wind to generate part of their electricity by the end of 2012, up from 7 in 2008. A number of other communities plan to add wind systems. Most of the existing wind power is on Kodiak Island and in small communities in western Alaska (inside map). • Alaska produces about five times more energy than it consumes, because of North Slope oil. The biggest use of energy in Alaska is for transportation and the smallest is for residential purposes (Figure 4).