Energy
RSSAlaska News tracks coverage of energy issues including electric utilities, natural gas pipelines, LNG development, fuel costs.
Seward survey respondents favor a local cooperative to run the city's electric utility
Most Seward survey takers want a local co-op to run the city's electric utility. The math hinges on a hydro project Chugach Electric also wants.
by Melinda Communities.News9h ago3 min read
Murkowski bill would modify and continue Snettisham's exemption from federal hydropower licensing
Sen. Lisa Murkowski introduced a bill Thursday to keep Juneau's Snettisham hydroelectric plant exempt from federal licensing rules, protecting the facility that supplies 70% of the city's power
by Walter AlaskaNews3d ago2 min read
Kotzebue water system exceeds federal lead action level after two of 10 homes test high
Two of 10 Kotzebue homes tested above the federal lead action level. The city is testing more homes and says to run taps until cold before drinking.
by Alaska News4d ago2 min read
MEA lays out how rolling outages would work if Southcentral runs short of gas this winter
MEA's plan if the gas runs short: nine groups, 30 to 45 minutes dark apiece, turns every few hours. Step six of six, and the co-op hopes to never get there.
by Walter AlaskaNews3d ago3 min read
Global refinery disruptions widened fuel margins in 2026, and rural Alaska's barge fuel cost more
Galena's utility paid 29% more per gallon for this year's barge fuel, and St. Paul paid about $7.55. Summer's dip in oil prices came after the fuel was bought.
by Cale Green4d ago4 min read
Public comment is open on Cook Inlet subsea data-center plan
Comments close Nov. 2 on a proposed tidal-powered subsea data center off Nikiski. The permit would authorize study, not construction.
by Walter AlaskaNews5d ago2 min read
Nome utility board member says new housing project's septic units will need heavy upkeep
New Nome housing will run on above-ground septic units with grinders, pumps and UV lights. A utility board member says they will need a lot of babysitting.
by Bill AlaskaNews5d ago2 min read
MEA surveys members on potential data center development
MEA is polling members about data centers while the state weighs handing 20,000 acres in its territory to AIDEA for a plan that lists data centers.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 5d ago2 min read
The line that powers Petersburg would leave federal license oversight
Petersburg gets its power over an 80-mile line from Tyee Lake. The agency running it wants that line out of its federal license, the second this year.
by Maggie AlaskaNews6d ago1 min read
Three Homer Electric generators failed at once, and hydro covered the gap
Three of Homer Electric's generators failed at once in August. It bought hydro to cover, from a dam whose lines cannot carry its full output.
by Alaska Newsadded 6d ago2 min read
Fairbanks diesel hit a record $6.70 a gallon this weekend
Fairbanks diesel hit a record $6.70 a gallon, up from $4.17 a year ago. That's the fuel that hauls everything else up the highway to the Interior.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
A Southeast power agency seeks to free a line from federal terms
SEAPA wants to pull a 30-mile transmission line out of its Swan Lake hydro license before a 40-year relicensing, keeping the line but shedding the terms.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
A magnitude 6.5 quake hit west of Nikolski, the third big one this year
A magnitude 6.5 quake hit west of Nikolski with no tsunami and no expected damage — the third magnitude-6 quake near the village this year.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1w ago1 min read
A fishing advocate warns Kenai over an undersea Cook Inlet data center
A fishing advocate told the Kenai council the federal application for an undersea data center off Nikiski has no thermal modeling, in endangered beluga habitat.
by Walter AlaskaNews1w ago2 min read
Fairbanks companies seek a year-round water right for the pool at Circle Hot Springs
Two Fairbanks companies want a year-round water right at Circle Hot Springs — about 8.6 million gallons a day, on an application pending since 2020.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Talkeetna residents ask Mat-Su commission to oppose Front Street water tank site
Talkeetna's wells have too much arsenic. The borough's fix would clear 1.4 acres of woods with a bear trail through it, and neighbors want another site.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
A dam licensed near Juneau 10 years ago still isn't built, and its deadline just passed
A dam licensed near Juneau a decade ago was never built, its construction deadline just expired, and the local utility says the town doesn't need the power.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Bethel's water plant has been sending filter backwash onto open ground
Water flushed from Bethel's treatment filters has been running onto the tundra instead of into the sewer lagoon. The city does not say for how long.
by Melinda Communities.News2w ago2 min read
Ketchikan council to vote on seventh amendment to water consulting deal
Ketchikan avoided a $70 million filtration plant by proving its mountain-lake water meets federal conditions for filtration avoidance.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Matanuska Electric posts its list of $451,000 in unclaimed capital credits
Matanuska Electric says more than $451,000 in capital credits sit unclaimed by current and former members, with one owed roughly $15,000.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 2w ago2 min read
A $2 fix could cut $49,944 a year off Bethel's fitness center energy bill
Two dollars. That is what Bethel would have to spend to cut nearly $50,000 a year off the fitness center energy bill, according to an audit.
by Maggie AlaskaNews2w ago1 min read
Massachusetts firm seeks study permit for a 66-pod undersea data center in Cook Inlet
A Delaware company formed in January wants to put 66 data center pods and 350 tidal turbines on the floor of Cook Inlet. Comment closes Nov. 2.
by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min read
Fairbanks' utility is writing down when it would start turning off your power
Fairbanks' electric co-op is writing rules for when it would start rotating outages. It has run short on reserve power 236 of the last 250 days.
by Melinda Communities.News3w ago2 min read
Metlakatla wins federal money to protect the hydro plant its island runs on
Metlakatla, Alaska's only Native reserve, gets $166,000 to protect the aging hydro plant its island depends on — a power source strained as its lakes run low.
by Melinda Communities.News3w ago2 min read
Juneau Hydropower asks FERC for two more years to start Sweetheart Lake dam
Juneau Hydropower asked federal regulators to delay the Sweetheart Lake dam completion deadline by two years, to September 2031.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter
Some Anchorage homes went a month without running water last winter. Frozen lines hit triple the usual number, and thawing them is the customer's expense.
by Walter AlaskaNews3w ago2 min read
Clay Koplin will lead Matanuska Electric starting in January
Clay Koplin, who has run Cordova Electric for nearly 20 years, takes over Matanuska Electric Association in January as Tony Izzo retires.
by Melinda Communities.News3w ago2 min read
A $2.5 million geothermal training grant for Unalaska sits 3 percent spent
Unalaska abandoned its Makushin geothermal project in May 2025, but a $2.5 million federal training grant tied to it remains open and largely unspent with only $75,000 spent so far.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago3 min read
PFAS found in three Anchorage Bowl wells, one pulled from service
Anchorage Water & Wastewater Utility found PFAS in three groundwater wells, pulled one from service, and is seeking $4 million in emergency contracts for water system work.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago1 min read
Alaska's transmission tariff would grandfather 11 existing agreements
Alaska created a body to end the tolls utilities charge each other for moving power. Its plan would leave 11 existing agreements in place indefinitely.
by Melinda Communities.News1mo ago1 min read
Nikiski inventor patents heated tailgate to keep drill slurry from freezing
A Nikiski oilfield-services president earned a patent for a heated tank door that keeps drilling waste from freezing before crews can dump it.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
Comments on the $400 million Bradley Lake expansion close Friday
Federal comment on the Bradley Lake expansion closes Friday. The price has been stated three ways since spring, and Railbelt ratepayers carry the debt.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago2 min read
Anchorage weighs a $6.7 million bleach contract for its wastewater
Anchorage may spend up to $6.7 million on bleach to disinfect wastewater it discharges into Cook Inlet under a treatment waiver that expired 20 years ago.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 1mo ago1 min read
Wainwright's fuel tank ran dry and the airlift is weathered in
Wainwright's fuel day tank ran empty Monday morning. An airlift of 80 drums sits loaded in Anchorage, waiting on a safe weather window north.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Golden Valley was short on reserves 94 percent of the last 250 days
Golden Valley was short on generation reserves 94% of the last 250 days, and its mix models 17 shortfalls a year against a benchmark of one per decade.
by Alaska News1mo ago2 min read
Heating help is going up this winter for remote Aleut communities, after a proposed cut was reversed
Heating help is rising about 40 percent this winter for 10 Aleut communities, after their tribal organization won more state funding and reversed a cut.
by Maggie AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A $400 million expansion of Bradley Lake hydro would power about 30,000 homes and cut Southcentral's gas use
A $400 million Bradley Lake hydro expansion would power about 30,000 homes and offset 1.5 billion cubic feet of gas a year, easing Southcentral's gas crunch.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
A $413 million cable would give Kenai and Anchorage a second power link
One transmission path links Kenai to Anchorage. A $413 million subsea cable would add a second, if AEA can raise the half that isn't federal.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
Alaska's main power grid is getting its first mandatory cybersecurity rules, but not for years
Alaska's main power grid is finally getting mandatory cybersecurity rules, but none takes effect until 2027 at the earliest, phasing in slowly through 2029.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
ENSTAR seeks a Southcentral gas rate hike as two landlords move to dismiss the case
ENSTAR wants to raise Southcentral gas bills by about $9 a month, and two landlords are moving to get the rate case thrown out before its September hearing.
by Walter AlaskaNews1mo ago2 min read
