While the rest of the country has had a warm winter, here on the Last Great Frontier we had an uncharacteristically cold January with many sub-zero F days.  For you folks used to measuring in C, that's temps of -15C and below.  In south central AK where Anchorage is, this is very cold weather.  Normal range has been about 15F average while I have lived here.

The result of this was last week we started running short of NG, which is what we use both for generating electricity and for heating.  Wednesday of last week we ended up with a power outtage, which was fortunately short lived and this week temps have finally come up to the normal range.

Because AK is so far from everywhere else, all our energy supply is sourced locally.  The NG we use all comes from wells dug in the Cook Inlet.  This supply has been depleting, and more wells need to be drilled.  Energy companies however don't want to invest in drilling new wells, it's expensive and just for local use.  So the local pols are all in a tizzy now about what to do about gas moving ahead.

There is of course just GOBS of NG up on the slope where the oil comes from, down the pipeline.  There is no NG pipeline though, and the cost of building one of those over that much distance is astronomical.  The only way that is economic is to export it, but that would take also a LNG production facility and a port capable of handling LNG tankers.  Still more enormous investments the energy companies don't want to make.  So for the forseeable future, a pipeline for NG from the Slope down to Cook Inlet does not appear to be in the cards.

So, how will we cover the shortfall in the near future.  Possibly they may punch a few more holes in Cook Inlet, and if we're lucky and next winter isn't as cold, that will be enough.  The next most likely would be to start burning Coal again, since there are coal deposits in the area that could be mined.  The environmental problems make that an unpopular choice.  Importing LNG also is possible, but that would be very costly for everybody, doubling or tripling energy costs here which are already pretty high.

Another possibility is putting in a Hydro plant.  This has been resisted for years due to environmental concerns about the Salmon fisherie, which quite a few nnative villages still depend on for subsistence fishing, and also provide revenue from tourists.  A big hydro plant kind of kills that pristine natural look in all those tourist brochures.

Most likely is little to nothing will be done, and next winter we'll just keep our fingers crossed we warm up with everyone else.  If that doesn't happen, I suspect next winter will have more frequent and longer power interruptions.  When people start freezing to death even if they're not homeless, maybe they'll start digging up some coal.

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2024/02/08/anchorage-mayoral-candidates-differ-on-how-to-handle-looming-cook-inlet-energy-shortage/

Anchorage mayoral candidates differ on how to handle looming Cook Inlet energy shortage

RE