Energy in Alaska

Overview

Alaska has the lowest population density of any state in the Union, with only a little over one person per square mile. Many people live in rural areas, and, with about 20% of the state covered by glaciers and water, getting energy to the population is challenging. Running electrical lines throughout the state’s 1.72 million square kilometers (663,000 square miles) is not feasible when considering the number of people the lines would serve. Therefore, most people in rural areas use heating oil and/or wood for heat and energy. In isolated communities, electricity is also often generated using petroleum fuels, like diesel.

Alaska Energy Authority’s (AEA) Alternative Energy and Energy Efficiency (AEEE) program manages and funds projects and initiatives totaling $188 million in state and federal funding. Many of these projects seek to lower the cost of power and heat to Alaskan communities while maintaining system safety and reliability.

Oil

North Slope

In the late 1960s, oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope, and it has proven to be the largest recoverable oil field in the U.S. Source rocks for the oil range from Mississippian to Paleogene in age, with Mesozoic marine coastal deposits being particularly rich. Significant amounts of oil and gas are trapped under the Barrow Arch, a regional belt of metamorphic and igneous rock that forms a cap for the oil reservoir. Production from the North Slope oilfields peaked in the late 1980s and has dwindled since that time. Peak production was more than two million barrels of oil per day in 1988. That number had declined to fewer than 500,000 barrels of oil per day by around 2014 and continues to drop.

Whether or not to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in northeastern Alaska has been the subject of heated debate for years. As part of the expansion of ANWR in 1980, the 1002 Area, a region on the coast, was set aside for potential future oil extraction. Groups opposed to drilling in ANWR contend that it will irreparably damage the sensitive wilderness in northern Alaska, whereas those in favor of drilling cite its economic benefits and argue that it will have limited effects on the landscape and wildlife.

Trans-Alaska pipeline

After significant negotiations with the Native populations of Alaska, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline was finished in 1977, running from the Prudhoe Bay some 800 miles south to Valdez, Alaska, on Prince William Sound. The construction of this pipeline supported the boom in oil extraction in the state in the late twentieth century.

The Trans-Alaska pipeline is currently facing several problems that threaten its integrity. One of these is declining oil production on the North Slope, leading to declining oil transport through the pipeline, which is turn causes maintenance issues (like build-up of ice and wax in the pipeline).

Another problem is melting permafrost, an issue that is being accelerated by climate change. Permafrost melt can cause the pipeline to bend or buckle as the thawing ground shifts. If the bending causes the pipeline to break, oil will spill. Thermosiphons (devices that keep the ground frozen) and other supports are being installed to keep the pipeline in place.

Exxon Valdez oil spill

The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred on March 24, 1989. It was the largest oil spill in U.S. waters until the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 (read more about the Deepwater Horizon spill on Earth Science of the South-central U.S.: Energy in the Coast Plain). The spill began when the Exxon Valdez oil tanker collided with a reef in Prince William Sound off the southern coast of Alaska. Nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil were spilled, affecting over 1000 miles of coastline; tens of thousands of animals were killed by the oil, including around 250,000 birds and more than 3,000 marine mammals (sea otters, seals, and whales). Exxon eventually paid nearly four billion dollars as a result of the spill, which included money for cleaning up the oil and restoring the environment, restitution, and penalties.

While populations of some organisms recovered within a few years following the spill, others were affected for a much longer time. Sea otter numbers, for example, did not fully rebound until more than two decades following the spill. For some animals, the effects of oil exposure were delayed. Several years following the spill, oil still contaminating the water caused the herring and salmon populations to crash, resulting in large economic losses for the commercial fishing industry. The effects of the spill are still felt in the region today, particularly on herring, which have not recovered their former numbers.

Coal

Alaska has significant coal reserves in just one active mine, near Healy. The coal was deposited in terrestrial environments under a much warmer and wetter Miocene climate.

Geothermal energy

Alaska has many volcanic and geothermal features and is a prime region for development of geothermal energy resources. To date, not much geothermal energy has been brought online. Chena Hot Springs was the first geothermal plant in the state, and Pilgrim Hot Springs (near Nome) has been explored for its geothermal capacity. Geothermal holds the promise to bring cleaner, less costly electricity to some remote communities that now rely on fossil fuels.

Hydroelectricity

Alaska has numerous dams that provide hydroelectric power, which is not only a clean source of energy, but is also an important source of electrical power in a state were transport of fuels and construction of long-distance transmission lines is challenging. Most hydroelectric projects are located in the south-central and southeastern parts of the state.

As in the Pacific Northwest, anadromous salmon (salmon that live in the ocean but spawn in freshwater) inhabit Alaska's rivers. Because these salmon swim many miles upstream from the ocean to spawn, dams are barriers that can prevent them from reaching their spawning grounds. Alaska's anadromous fish populations have experienced less decline overall than salmon and steelhead in the Pacific Northwest due to the presence of dams. Nevertheless, salmon in some rivers are affected. One of these is the Eklutna River. The Lower Eklutna Dam, which was built in 1929 and provided power until 1955, was removed in 2017 to 2018 in part of a process to restore the Eklutna River and allow salmon populations to rebound. The Upper Eklutna Dam still provides hydropower and water for Anchorage, Alaska.

Hydroelectric power will likely be expanded in Alaska in the future. Fortunately, in at least some cases, dams can be built on stretches of river that are unreachable by salmon, and, thus, will not present a barrier to spawning.

Wind energy

Some commercial development of wind energy has occurred in Alaska. In isolated communities, generation of power from wind may be used as a complement to diesel-generated power rather than as a stand-alone resource.