Rural Energy Initiative heat recovery project kicks off in Noorvik
April 8, 2016Categories: Healthy Homes and Communities
ANTHC construction crews recently started work on a heat recovery energy project for the Noorvik water utility that is projected to save 16,000 gallons of heating fuel annually once completed. The project will capture excess heat energy from the community power plant and use it as an alternative energy source. Construction is scheduled to wrap up before the beginning of winter. This heat recovery project is one of dozens of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects from ANTHC’s Rural Energy Initiative since the program was started in 2010. It is a collaboration with the City of Noorvik, the Northwest Arctic Borough, NANA Regional Corporation, Alaska Energy Authority, Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, and ANTHC’s Alaska Rural Utility Collaborative program. In the Noorvik heat recovery system, excess heat energy will be captured from the local Alaska Village Electric Cooperative plant and transferred to heat the water plant through a 3,200-foot glycol pipeline instead of burning thousands of gallons of heating fuel each winter. The recovered heat will be used to heat Noorvik’s extensive water and sewer system to prevent freezing and disruption to public sanitation services. This will result in substantial cost savings for both utilities, which will help reduce water plant operating costs and user fees. On average, energy costs are 39 percent of the total cost of providing public sanitation in rural Alaska, with electricity costs as high as $1/kilowatt hour, and heating fuel costs that are more than $10 per gallon in some locations. The ANTHC Rural Energy Initiative assists communities in identifying renewable energy projects that work for each community, seeks funding to implement the project and provides project management and construction of the system. ANTHC has completed 24 renewable energy projects for rural Alaska sanitation systems since 2011. Learn more about the Rural Energy Initiative at https://www.anthc.org/what-we-do/rural-energy/.