Energy official says Alaska tribal projects draw about half of $125 million federal selection

The U.S. Department of Energy on Thursday selected 63 tribe-led energy projects in 16 states for award negotiations on more than $125 million in federal funding. The projects involve 61 tribal entities. The department's announcement of the selections says selection is not itself a commitment to issue an award or provide funding.

Deputy Energy Secretary James Danly announced the money at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage. "Alaska is receiving about half of the total award money to strengthen the energy system of Alaska," he said.

Danly said the money will pay for transmission and distribution upgrades and new generation. He said it will also invest in Alaska's energy workforce, adding to the 28,000 energy workers the state already has. All of it is meant to lower prices, he said. He called the package the largest in the 20-year history of the department's Office of Indian Energy.

The selections cover community-scale energy deployment, predevelopment work, and planning and feasibility studies for large-scale projects, the department says. The 2026 selection list names 20 Alaska projects, including construction work in Noatak, Old Harbor, Chalkyitsik, Dillingham, Diomede, Pedro Bay and Port Graham.

Alaska Village Electric Cooperative requested about $6 million for a power plant in Noatak. The Alutiiq Tribe of Old Harbor requested about $4.4 million for hydroelectric construction. The Native Village of Port Graham requested $397,385 for a biomass boiler heat loop. The Alaska Federation of Natives itself requested $1.5 million for statewide tribal energy planning.

Together the Alaska projects requested about $50 million of the roughly $137 million sought by all 63, under half. The list notes amounts may change before agreements are final.

Danly said tribes, not Washington, proposed the projects. "This is not the Department of Energy telling anybody what they're going to do," he said. Requests outnumbered available money 10 to 1, he said, so the department could pick projects with the most megawatts and greatest reliability benefit per dollar.

Danly thanked Alaska's congressional delegation and the governor, but credited U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski most. He cited her role in the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which he said changed how the federal government runs energy programs.

Joining Danly at the podium, Murkowski said, "These projects were defined by the communities, defined by the regions."

Danly called the $125 million "only the first in a series of steps" the department plans in Alaska. He told tribes to contact the Office of Indian Energy and the Office of Arctic Energy as more funding opportunities open.