President & CEO Brian Newton

Year of the Co-op

This year cooperatives, like Golden Valley Electric Association, are celebrating the International Year of Cooperatives.

There are 29,200 co-ops of all kinds across America, and more than 1 billion co-op members around the world. Electric cooperatives serve 12 percent of American electric consumers. In Alaska, cooperatives (called associations here) serve 95 percent of the electric consumers.

What all co-ops have in common is a set of principles and values, including self-help and democratic member control. In 1946, these principles guided a small group of local farmers to form a not-for-profit membership cooperative, called Golden Valley Electric Association. Their purpose was to bring electricity to Interior Alaska.

Today their vision is alive and well as Golden Valley Electric Association provides electric power to the Interior’s 100,000 residents. However, with success comes challenge and today we face the challenge of delivering affordable power to Interior Alaskans. With a volatile oil market and our heavy reliance on refined fuel products for power generation, we’re (pardon the pun) over a barrel. But we have a three-step plan to reduce our reliance on oil and lower rates.

Step 1: Add Wind

The Eva Creek Wind project is under construction and is expected to be online this fall. At today’s oil prices, adding wind will decrease fuel costs slightly. If oil prices continue to rise, the savings will be greater.

Step 2: Restart Healy Clean Coal Plant (HCCP)

We’re waiting for our air permit renewal, recently approved by the State Department of Environmental Conservation, to clear environmental challenges – a complex process given the current administration’s negative views on coal. Once we’re past these challenges, we could have the plant up in 18 to 24 months, providing relief to members’ bills.

Step 3: Truck Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) to the Interior

We built our new North Pole Expansion Power Plant with the arrival of natural gas in mind. A relatively quick and inexpensive retrofit will allow us to take advantage of LNG from the North Slope, further reducing our reliance on oil and adding more rate relief. The Board will take action on the LNG trucking plan later this year once the detailed engineering and final costs are known. If approved, LNG could be available as early as the first quarter of 2015.

The high cost of energy, including the cost of electricity, is hitting the Interior hard. We know our most critical challenge lies in lowering energy costs. It’s a challenge we’re up for, just like the early pioneers that started Golden Valley Electric Association.

Golden Valley Electric is a cooperative and, as our history has shown, members working together can solve even the most formidable of obstacles. When we cooperate with each other – pool our resources and focus on a goal – we can accomplish great things because cooperatives build a better world.