At the GVEA Annual Members' Meeting on April 27, members heard about the possibility of the co-op taking on the largest wind project in Alaska. The 24-megawatt project is called Eva Creek. 

Golden Valley has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to add a significant amount of renewable energy to its mix - at a very affordable cost. A number of factors have come together to make this project viable. Probably the most significant is an extremely low interest rate on the loan. 

Though wind power is expensive to build, once built, it is a very inexpensive source of power. In fact, aside from operations, maintenance and low interest loan repayment costs, it's free. 

Installed meteorological wind monitoring towers in 2003. Since then, Golden Valley has been collecting and analyzing data. Began wind integration studies in 2007 to make sure the wind power will work on GVEA's system.

Jan - Feb 2010

Installed two 80-meter MET towers at Eva Creek site and one 50M MET tower on Walker Dome for further wind testing.

May - Nov 2010

Spring avian migration field study, evaluation of turbine siting and selection, coordinate with ARRC for rail access and geotechnical investigation for road and site improvements

August 2010

Acquire state of Alaska land lease for project

Sept 2010

Finalize wind turbine manufacturer and availability

Winter 2010 - 2011

Begin infrastructure design including road, Intertie substation and tower foundation