By ROBERT SEITZ
I continue my effort to encourage all Alaska government personnel, legislative personnel and business leaders and private citizens to support whatever actions are needed to, ensure continued and increased production of Cook Inlet natural gas for distribution to the Railbelt power system and local distribution of natural gas.
It is imperative that we do what is necessary, to allow the continued flow of natural gas until a dependable, long term base energy source is established that can adequately replace Cook Inlet natural gas. This commentary will contain a lot of what I have recently written on this topic, as this is one of the most serious problems we have to solve immediately.
I have been assured that if the tax and royalty burden for all the Cook Inlet gas producers is equalized, that would go a long way to encouraging the drilling of new wells in yet untapped gas reservoirs of Cook Inlet. So I support HB 276, SB 194 and possibly HB 223 and other related bills that encourage and enhance the increased production of new Cook Inlet Gas.
Some innovation to control or isolate the value of Cook Inlet natural gas, to ensure the world commodity market does not drive our fuel prices to unacceptable levels would be of great help. There must be some way to establish a rate that is fair to all producers that will provide a reasonable rate for heat and electric energy fueled by Cook Inlet natural gas. The future of Anchorage and of all Alaska depends on this energy.
Once we have secured the continued flow of Cook Inlet natural gas we have a good start for our long term energy plan, as we will have a good starting point. This will give us time to work out (plan) renewable and whatever (yet not selected) alternate energy source might become the replacement base energy source that will replace natural gas. We do have an energy storage mechanism that can be charged with excess wind and solar energy, which is Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska (CINGSA) on the Kenai Peninsula. (SB 220 is related to natural gas storage, and it encourages continued Cook Inlet gas, I can support this effort.)
Even though the wind and solar are not considered as dispatchable energy sources the compressors for the gas storage can be operated while there is excess energy from the wind and solar resources.
I have read HB 368 and have made negative comments about this bill. I find the bill to be premature in that it is an attempt to force utilities to accept the connection of renewable resources to the utility whether or not they are beneficial to the rate payers.
We do not need to implement RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standards) and that the IPP developers should be encouraged to offer a design that will provide power at a reasonably low rate, not complicate or disrupt the control and stability of the Electric Power System, and that they be free to negotiate agreements with the Utilities concerned.
I think the free market system should be allowed to function without compromise in the development of our power system. If HB 349 (“An act relating to leases of public land for renewable energy projects”) offers benefit to Alaska, and encourages the development of energy resources for connection to the utility without unnecessary burden to Alaska then I might be supportive of this bill. The free market has already been compromised where Cook Inlet Gas is concerned by ESG and other actions designed to increase cost of hydrocarbon fuels.
Since Alaska does not have a pumped hydro storage facility that can accept any and all wind and solar power produced, we must next focus on developing sufficient Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES), to permit IPP (independent power producers) to allow beneficial and profitable connection to the railbelt system. With sufficient LDES it would then be relatively easy, as all excessive production of variable energy sources be diverted to pushing excess energy into the storage mechanism.
A new Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) means by Cache Energy has been recently introduced and could be an affordable mechanism for installation on the Railbelt or in remote communities. We will remain alert for other LDES which can store energy in June for use in January.
In the meantime those who desire to install utility grade wind and solar projects that are to be connected to the Railbelt electrical system, should be encourage to do so, as long as the projects are financially attractive and compliant with appropriate codes, regulations and standards. Without a stable base energy source to depend on when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun does not shine we must depend on Cook Inlet Natural Gas.
A Cook Inlet Tidal Energy project has been funded, but we will not know for a while when and what the Tidal Energy contribution could be. We cannot afford to be restrictive in our energy sources to only allow “Clean Energy” to be added. We can encourage alternate energy sources and other modifications to our power and energy systems
I began writing about the need for a long term energy plan and long term energy storage for Alaska in January of 2016. There is still no plan (I have just seen bullet list of possible solutions, but without implementation) and now that we are running out of natural gas, there still is no reliable long term energy storage. Now is the time for action on Cook Inlet Natural Gas. It will take a paradigm shift to get it worked out, but this time we need to get a plan developed so that we have guidance on what and how to add energy sources to the system to ensure cheap energy, that encourages economic growth, industrial progress, and a very positive future.
Alaska does not need and RPS to encourage alternate energy sources to be developed and added to our system. It would help if each source added was provided with a reasonable estimate of cost per kWh, whether from an IPP or utility. If we have cheap energy it would allow consideration for a lot of new industries in Alaska.
Efforts to upgrade our Railbelt Transmission system should not be done in any manner that would dismiss the natural gas fueled generators as the primary goals should be cheap electrical power and reliable power when conditions are worst (i.e. winter).
Robert Seitz is a PE Electrical Engineer and lifelong Alaskan.
