An aerial view of a wind turbine pad on Fire Island.

Why Wind?

Southcentral Alaska utilities rely almost exclusively on locally produced natural gas to supply more than 90 percent of the region's electric power generation and space heating needs. However, known Southcentral Alaska gas reserves are in steep decline and production will fall short of demand within the next two years according to utility projections.

Proposed alternative energy sources including an 800 mile in-state gas line from the North Slope and a large Susitna River hydroelectric facility are many years away.

The first phase of the Fire Island Wind project is scheduled to be online in 2012. It will reduce Southcentral Alaska natural gas consumption, offsetting approximately 0.5 billion cubic feet of Chugach's natural gas consumption for power generation annually, about four percent of Chugach's energy needs.

The cost of electricity produced by Fire Island is competitive with the cost of electricity generated with natural gas fuel purchased under some existing utility contracts. It will almost certainly cost less than the cost of power generated with natural gas imported from Alaska's North Slope or abroad.

The Fire Island Wind project is a great first step toward energy diversification in our region, and will improve the reliability of Southcentral Alaska's power generation and transmission system. More sources of power and the addition of a no-fuel power source that will not run out increases the redundancy of the system and makes system failure less likely to occur.

Bringing Fire Island Wind online as an independent power producer will increase competition in Southcentral Alaska's energy market and increase innovation and long-term cost savings. The Fire Island Wind project will be built, owned and operated by Alaskans. The project will also add to the Municipality of Anchorage's property tax base.

Price stability is another key advantage of wind power, with the cost of Fire Island wind power remaining flat throughout the 25-year contract. Wind-generated energy is free from price fluctuations due to market conditions or supply disruptions. The price of energy generated by Fire Island Wind, as set out in Chugach's and Fire Island Wind's power purchase agreement, is already cheaper than some energy sources.