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Golden Valley Electric Association held the first of several member meetings Monday night at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.
With over 70 members in attendance, Golden Valley management, including President and CEO Brian Newton, Vice President of Marketing and Member Services Dave Gardner, and Vice President of Transmission and Distribution Mike Wright, presented information on the cooperative's efforts to meet the challenges of rising energy costs.
Member questions ranged from what GVEA is doing to bring the Healy Clean Coal Project power plant on line to what members can do to make their voices heard by state officials.
Tuesday night GVEA presented the Our Energy, Our Future for Interior Alaska in Delta Junction. Members who missed either of these first two presentations still have several opportunities.
On Thursday, July 24, GVEA will be presenting at the North Pole City Hall. Tuesday, July 29, they will be at the Tri-Valley Community Center in Healy. Finally, on Wednesday, July 30, they will be presenting at the Nenana Civic Center.
Golden Valley Electric Association is slated to receive $212,000 in renewable energy grants from the Denali Commission and the Alaska Energy Authority. The co-op received four of 33 awards for renewable energy projects around the state.
Two of the grants will be used to conduct feasibility studies of installing some type of hydroelectric project in the Nenana River near Healy, and the Gerstle River near Delta Junction.
One grant will be used for engineering the Eva Creek wind project near Healy. GVEA has been evaluating the wind potential at this site for several years and has found a viable wind resource. The Eva Creek site can support a large wind project but the actual sizing of the project will be determined by how many of the Railbelt utilities want to participate.
The fourth grant will be used to evaluate the feasibility of constructing and operating a solar thermal water heating system to be used by McKinley Village Lodge and Denali Education Center located near Denali National Park.
Vice President for Power Supply Kate Lamal spearheaded Golden Valley's efforts.
"These projects are part of our strategy to meet the goals of our green power pledge," said Brian Newton, GVEA president & CEO. "It's also good news for members as adding more renewable power decreases the Interior's dependence on oil-refined fuel sources."
Golden Valley Electric Association members constructing homes this summer may qualify for the co-op's Builder$ense energy efficiency rebate program.
Builder$ense is GVEA's electric energy efficiency residential rebate program for home builders who install electrical energy efficiency measures during construction. Improved efficiency in the areas of lighting, electric water heaters and vehicle plug-ins can save homeowners hundreds to thousands of dollars in electricity over the life time of a home.
"Last year we provided over $63,000 in rebates," said GVEA's Energy Efficiency Specialist Todd Hoener. Over 90 rebates were issued with an average rebate of $670.
More information on the Builder$ense program, and other Energy$ense programs, can be found at GVEA's website, or by calling 452-1151.
The Golden Valley Electric Association members reelected all three incumbent directors via mail ballots that were opened and counted Tuesday evening. Nine judges from the co-op's Member Advisory Committee opened and counted the ballots and certified election results for the three seats. The co-op mailed ballots to all members residing in Districts 1, 2 and 3 on May 9, 2008. A 10 percent return was required for a quorum.
 Dan Osborne |
Osborne was elected to the board in 1981 and currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board. He recently retired from the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute. Roehl withdrew from the election for personal reasons. | ||||||||||||
 Tom DeLong |
DeLong was elected to GVEA's board in 2005 and works at ABR, Inc. Environmental Research & Services as the office/contracts manager. | |||||||||||||||
 Rick Schikora |
Schikora is a certified public accountant and partner at the accounting firm of Warwick and Schikora. He has been on GVEA's board since 1986 and currently serves as the board Treasurer. | ||||||||||||
More information on the voting districts and the candidates can be found at our 2008 Board Election web page.
