NANA company in line for $2.3 million grant to design hydro for three villages

Atautchikun, the public benefit company of NANA Regional Corporation, has been selected for a $2.3 million federal grant to design a hydroelectric project and a new power line that could someday help Ambler, Shungnak and Kobuk rely less on diesel for electricity, the company announced Friday.

The money would pay for early engineering designs and community outreach, not construction. No decision has been made to build anything, the company said, and the grant isn't final until the U.S. Department of Energy finishes negotiating the award.

The project, called Kogoluktuk, would put a hydroelectric plant of about 700 kilowatts east of Kobuk, according to the Northwest Arctic Borough's 2026 energy plan. The plan says a 2014 study found it the most feasible option in the area. The plan estimates it would save nearly 400,000 gallons of diesel a year but cost more than $80 million and take more than five years to complete.

The grant would also pay to design a power line between Ambler and Shungnak, which the plan estimates at $20 million and three to four years once it's funded. Kobuk and Shungnak are already linked by a 10-mile line built in 1994, and Kobuk buys its power from Shungnak through it. The borough plan says that line needs replacing, with design under way under a separate federal grant and work planned for 2027.

Electricity in Kobuk cost $1.08 per kilowatt-hour in 2025, the plan says, or 32 cents after Power Cost Equalization, a state program that lowers what rural residents pay.

"We are at the very beginning of this process, and community input will be critical in determining what comes next," said Albie Panikpaiq Dallemolle, Atautchikun's president.

Atautchikun led the application, with the borough as a key partner. The Alaska Village Electric Cooperative would manage the power line's early design, and Ambler, Shungnak and Kobuk sent letters of support. Craig McConnell, president of the borough Assembly, said the grant is a chance to plan and hold the community conversations needed to make informed decisions about the region's energy future.

The project was one of 20 Alaska entries on the Department of Energy's list of selections from its Office of Indian Energy, which puts the request at $2,298,968.