olar energy is sizzling. Almost 2,000 customers of the four Railbelt electric utilities have tied solar installations to the grid, according to the Alaska Center for Energy and Power at UAF. Last year, 60 commercial customers of Chugach Electric Association and nearly 600 residential customers added photovoltaic (PV) installations.

“Solar PV is quickly becoming one of the lowest-cost options for energy or electricity generation in the world, and the same reflects in Alaska,” says Edwin Bifelt, founder and CEO of Alaska Native Renewable Industries, which has completed several large installations. “The projects that we’re doing show that solar is very doable from a conception standpoint. You don’t need a lot of heavy equipment assets involved. The biggest challenge for us is the foundation. After that it’s mostly just our labor crews involved.”

Alaska has been late to the party as far as installation cost is concerned, says Curtis W. Thayer, executive director of the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA), but that’s changing thanks to generous federal credits. The value proposition of solar energy pencils out favorably for more utility customers and for power producers, too.

“Many of the utilities are currently talking to solar developers about potentially building large multi-megawatt arrays in their service areas,” says research engineer Chris Pike, solar technology program lead for the Alaska Center for Energy and Power. “Chugach Electric has selected at least one for further review, and they’re doing studies for that array. The location and size are not public. The interesting thing is you’re starting to see a lot more private investment.”

New technology has helped raise the efficiency of PV projects, such as scaled-up manufacturing of bifacial solar cells in the last decade. Within the next few years, bifacial panels are forecast to eclipse the market share of older monofacial panels. Bifacial cells have the advantage of generating energy from light reflected onto the shady side of panels.

“They offer the option to orient the panel vertically, so the panel can generate more in the morning and evening,” Pike says of bifacial panels, adding that Alaska’s long spring and summer days, with extra hours of low-angle sunlight, are well suited to vertical panels.

And interest in solar energy is rising as Alaskans seek alternatives to fossil fuels, whether to curb carbon dioxide emissions or to conserve non-renewable resources. “There are also discussions of how rooftop solar can play a role in reducing the amount of natural gas that’s consumed in Southcentral Alaska, especially as the Cook Inlet gas supply is in question,” says Pike.

The largest solar energy generator in Alaska, for now, is located across the Parks Highway from Nancy Lake at the southern edge of Willow. Renewable Independent Power Producers (IPP) built the Willow Farm as a 140kW pilot project in 2018. It was the company’s first solar project and consisted of 340W panels—408 of them—laid out in two arrays, each the length of a football field. The original configuration produced enough power for twenty-five to thirty homes year-round and offset 200,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

Just one year after the Willow Solar Farm was built, IPP completed an expansion, financed in part by AEA’s Power Project Fund loan program. The other half of the funding for the project came from private capital. The expanded 1.2MW solar farm consists of 3,240 solar panels that offset 2 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually. “The facility produces enough power for 200 homes,” according to Thayer, “and sells to Matanuska Electric Association.” Its rated capacity is twice the size of Golden Valley Electric Association’s solar farm, the only other utility-scale project in Alaska.

The Willow Farm won’t be Alaska’s—or IPP’s—largest solar project for long. Last fall, construction began about 10 miles down the highway at the Houston Solar Farm. When complete, the project will cover 45 acres with ballasted bifacial PV panels. The farm is expected to provide enough energy for 1,400 homes, which is more households than in Houston itself. Matanuska Electric Association has committed to purchasing all of the energy generated there. The 8.5MW solar array will be the largest utility-scale PV solar installation in the state when it’s complete, or about the same capacity as UAF’s coal-fired power plant or the Pillar Mountain wind farm on Kodiak Island.

The Houston Solar Farm is being funded in part by a $4.9 million loan from AEA’s Power Project Fund. The rest of the financing comes from New York-based CleanCapital, an investment platform which will be owner/operator of the project. IPP, working under contract to CleanCapital, will perform all construction as well as continuing operations and maintenance.

North of the Arctic Circle, sunlight wanes in winter but waxes strongly in summer, more ripe for harvest than might seem possible at those chilly latitudes. Kotzebue has been harnessing wind energy for more than twenty-five years, but Kotzebue Electric Association (KEA) has been transitioning to solar since 2020. A $1.9 million project replaced 532kW of first-generation wind turbines with 532kW of solar panels and inverters, co-located at the KEA wind site. The initial part of the project was funded by NANA Regional Corporation, with additional funding from the US Department of Energy’s Tribal Energy Program ($600,000); the Northwest Arctic Borough, through the Village Initiative Fund ($600,000); and KEA ($700,000).

The next phase of the project swapped out eight obsolete 66kW wind turbines in favor of PV panels expected to produce 680,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. This part of the project was funded by a $1.9 million Alaska Renewable Energy Fund grant.

North of Kotzebue, Noatak faces high energy costs due to its remote location. In July 2022, the average cost for electricity in Noatak was nearly $0.27 per kWh for customers using up to 500kWh of energy. Those who used more than that saw prices soar to $0.90 per kWh. A solar energy project in Noatak is underway to help reduce those costs.

Currently under construction, with an estimated completion date of June 2023, is a 280kW solar PV system and inverters and 500kW/460kWh of battery storage. The project’s total estimated cost is just under $3 million. It was funded with a 2021 award from the Department of Energy’s Office of Indian Energy (approximately $2 million), the Village Improvement Fund ($310,000), Denali Commission (approximately $134,000), NANA Village Economic Investment ($250,000), Teck Resources ($100,000), and the Northwest Arctic Borough (approximately $84,000).

When finished, Phase I of the project will include a main solar area of 900 feet by 300 feet and a fenced-in battery building of 30 feet by 20 feet. Construction began in September 2022. The first phase will consist of 432 Canadian solar bifacial 650W panels. The solar project’s rated output would supplement Noatak’s 1.5MW diesel power plant.

Villages inland from Kotzebue are in the planning stages for solar energy projects. Ambler, Kiana, Noorvik, and Selawik are joining together for a shared system.

Ambler is located on the north bank of the Kobuk River, 45 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Downstream, Kiana overlooks the confluence of the Kobuk and Squirrel Rivers. Noorvik is downriver from the Kobuk Valley National Park on the Kobuk River, and Selawik is located a little farther south at the mouth of the Selawik River, about 90 miles east of Kotzebue, near the Selawik National Wildlife Preserve.

All four villages share a low population and a remote location, which translates to high utility costs. The Northwest Arctic Borough was awarded a $590,000 grant from AEA’s Renewable Energy Fund (REF) for the final design and permitting of solar PV and battery storage to service all four villages. The final two bids from engineering companies were being evaluated this spring.

South of the Arctic Circle, Galena is a village in central Alaska located on the Yukon River about 270 miles west of Fairbanks. All supplies get there by air or by water, including fuel to provide power. In the summer, fuel deliveries are transported by barge up the Yukon; in winter, by plane. As a result, “Fluctuations in global fuel prices can significantly increase the already expensive delivery costs,” according to a FEMA case study published in 2019. The study went on to note that energy costs $0.67 per kWh in Galena.

Thus, Galena officials are planning a 1.2MW solar PV system as well as a 500kW/800kWh battery energy storage system. The project is in the planning stage, with 95 percent of the final design completed. The City of Galena received a $2 million REF grant, and there is a $2 million anticipated cost increase. Once completed, the system is expected to save an estimated 80,000 gallons of diesel annually at Galena’s 3.9MW power plant—and more than 2 million gallons in diesel savings over its projected twenty-five year lifespan.

About 250 miles down the Yukon River in Holy Cross, the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative received a $135,000 REF grant to study the feasibility of its own potential solar energy and battery storage.

Grants from AEA are also helping to study possible future solar projects closer to the Anchorage area. Point McKenzie Solar, a venture of Anchorage realtor Fred Thoerner, received a $75,000 REF grant and is in the midst of a USDA Compliant Feasibility Study to explore a solar site with an expected 5.9MW capacity and delivery of approximately 500MWh monthly via an interconnection with Chugach Electric Association.

The Native Village of Eklutna is currently working on a solar feasibility study for Site One and Mohawk Camp properties in Eagle River in order to develop technical and economic viability for the village. It received a $25,000 REF grant for the study.

Solar is attractive because it generally has low operation and maintenance costs and few moving parts that can break down. Add that to ease of installation and the fact that solar has been getting cheaper, and it becomes an energy savings win.

But other alternative energy methods are also being explored, things like wind and hydroelectric power—especially in Alaska where harnessing the power of the sun isn’t possible at all times of the year. “There’s no magic bullet when it comes to types of energy,” says Pike. “Solar only works when the sun is out. Solar is only a piece of the puzzle.”

“Long term, my vision is hopefully we’ll be able to get to the point where the solar industry in Alaska can scale significantly in the next five to ten years,” says Bifelt. “If we’re able to get five to ten projects per year in Alaska, that would be huge. There’s probably 150 rural remote communities in Alaska… and it would be a huge asset for these local communities.”