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Just after midnight this winter, Ouzinkie’s power failed.
The village’s mayor, Elijah Jackson, needed to help coordinate an emergency medevac for an Elder, while also responding to the power outage. “These are just things we deal with nonstop,” he said of the challenges that come with operating an isolated energy system in rural Alaska
To improve energy reliability and reduce the community’s dependence on diesel fuel, ANTHC’s Rural Energy Program is partnering with the Native Village of Ouzinkie to build a new 297-kilowatt solar array and 1-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system (BESS).
This means that once complete the system will provide enough stored electricity to keep critical infrastructure operating for more than 17 hours during an outage. At the same time, the community is expected to save more than $100,000 annually in diesel fuel costs.
Located on Spruce Island, about a 20-minute flight from Kodiak, Ouzinkie is home to 167 residents and operates on an isolated microgrid that is not connected to any larger electrical system. Today, power comes from diesel generators and a hydroelectric system whose reservoir also serves as the community’s drinking water source.
During the winter, maintaining both systems is a delicate balancing act.
“Our lake is both our drinking water and our power,” said Mayor Jackson. “Last winter we had to run it lower than we wanted because everything was freezing up. We needed power, but we couldn’t run the community out of drinking water. We were in a world of hurt.”
The newly installed solar and battery system will provide both an additional source of locally generated energy, and once operational, will be owned by the Tribe to sell power as an Independent Power Producer (IPP). The revenue generated will be directly invested into local water and sanitation infrastructure, reducing residents’ household bills.
“Becoming an IPP gives the Tribe additional energy sovereignty and strengthens us in the long term,” said Kerry Ivory, Ouzinkie’s Tribal Administrator. “We have a grid that isn’t connected to anything else, so we want to be sure we’re able to maintain it ourselves.”
In July, nearly a dozen Ouzinkie residents participated in a hands-on training where they installed solar panels and learned how the new system will operate.
Additional training sessions are already planned before the project comes online so that Tribal and City staff can confidently keep the system running for years to come.
If you’re interested in a renewable energy project in your community, or would like to get involved in Ouzinkie’s solar project, please contact our team at energy@anthc.org.
This project was made possible with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Tribal Energy Alternatives, and the Ouzinkie Native Corporation.
