Geothermal energy generation in Alaska

[Daox]

Apparently there are a few hot springs in Alaska and this one remote town is looking to take advantage of it for a source of power generation. Their only other method is diesel fuel which gets horribly expensive for them.

Diesel off in remote Alaska

[MN Renovator]

Geothermal should be great for heating a house in the winter, figuring that enough warmth is still there for the hot springs to freeze solid in the winter. Granted there is less sun resource there, but solar is still a possibility, looking at the NREL maps like 3.2kwh/m2/day, which is roughly 75% of my area in Minnesota. The article also mentions they are tapping their wind resource too. Diesel fuel would make an even marginally poor solar resource into a cost effective means of power source even if battery storage was used together with it, especially with the general growth in fuel costs over time. Geothermal seems like it should provide the cheapest option as long as the hot springs are constantly hot year-round. If they are it would be a nice reliable power source.

[F357]

Seems like some misinformation here.

Nome has seen the diesel part of their power costs go from, oh, maybe 6 cents or less to 19 or 20 cents a kilowatt hour in less than the last 10 years

Even a big diesel generator is lucky to make 12 kilowatts from a gallon of diesel fuel. If diesel cost $6 like they say, that's 50 cents/kilowatt hour.

[MN Renovator]

Originally Posted by F357

Even a big diesel generator is lucky to make 12 kilowatts from a gallon of diesel fuel. If diesel cost $6 like they say, that's 50 cents/kilowatt hour.

I was thinking that 20 cents per kwh didn't seem too terrible and a bit on the low side too. I figure that the prices would be more than Hawaii if they needed to import diesel and having $6/gallon pricing.

Also for home heating, I've watched documentaries on the Inuit villages and their neighborhood energy retrofit projects and it seemed that most homes used small wall-mount oil space heaters and after they went through their energy retrofits usually they would end up with smaller and more efficient variable stage oil heaters. I've never heard of people using diesel-sourced electric power and resistance heating up there, usually it is oil heat. The homes in the Inuit villages are all single story and on soft ground. They actually have their homes mounted with height-adjustable corners because the ground sinks unevenly so they support the house with multiple jacks, essentially loosen the support, raise the house until its level, and tighten it down.

This reliance on liquid fuel is an excellent reason to seek every bit of electricity and thermal conservation possible. Even if I had one of the 400-800 sq ft Inuit houses, I'd be aiming for R40 at a minimum for insulation if I were near or north of the Arctic Circle. I think it is a bit of a joke that Alaska has been building homes with R21 fiberglass in 2x6 framing with 24" centers when this is a joke, even in Minnesota, it isn't enough.