HomeMy WebLinkAboutCook Inletkeeper- Ormat Letter of Support - AEA 2010
P.O. Box 3269, Homer, Alaska 99603 • p. 907.235.4068 • f. 907.235-4069 • www.inletkeeper.org
September 14, 2010
Alaska Energy Authority
813 West Northern Lights Boulevard
Anchorage, AK 99503
Re: Support for Ormat’s AEA Renewable Energy Fund, Round IV, Application for
Mount Spurr Geothermal Exploration
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
Cook Inletkeeper is a community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting
the Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains. Among other things, Inletkeeper increasingly
recognizes the considerable threats posed by rapid climate change and ocean acidification to
Alaska’s spectacular resources and the people and economies they support. As a result,
Inletkeeper writes now to strongly support Ormat’s application for a grant from the Alaska
Renewable Energy Fund, Round IV, to pursue geothermal exploration at Mt. Spurr on the west
side of Cook Inlet.
In addition to the considerable climate change benefits this project would promote, we support
Ormat’s project because:
1) Alaska will need to build up to 1,000 MWs of new generation capacity in the next twenty
years in the Railbelt to replace aging power stations, and geothermal provides excellent,
cost-effective baseload capacity;
2) Geothermal energy will provide relatively flat cost at a time when the State of Alaska, as
well as local governments and Railbelt utilities, have indicated they will strive to get 50%
of their power from renewable resources;
3) Renewable Portfolio standards are increasingly the norm in states across the country, and
it’s very likely Congress will enact similar requirements in the next few years.
We appreciate AEA’s decision to award Ormat $2 million in the previous grant round, to cost
share initial exploration on Mount Spurr for 2010-2011. Ormat reportedly is encouraged by
initial results of that work, and we therefore urge AEA to grant Ormat the additional funds
requested in this round, to continue to move this project forward by continuing to share some of
the high exploration costs inherent in a project of such nature.
AEA/Ormat Letter of Support
September 14, 2010
Page 2
Thank you for your attention to this matter and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have
any questions at 907.235.4068 x22 or bob@inletkeeper.org.
Very truly yours,
Bob Shavelson
Executive Director