Organizing works
The Golden Valley Electric Association Board met Monday evening, voting to decommission Healy 2, the largest coal plant in Alaska, and invest in a wind and battery project that will be the largest of its kind in the state due to grassroots community organizing!
We know that local organizing is the key to movement building across issues and that celebration is critical to power building. With the decision to shut down the state’s largest coal plant, we can directly see how community organizing works. This result comes after more than 5 years of dedicated community engagement and organizing from FCAC’s Renewable Energy Working Group and community volunteers helping to raise the voices of GVEA member-owners calling for a transition to clean, renewable energy. This win is proof that our community can show up and make change that we are in dire need of.
Learning more about the GVEA decision:
Haven’t We Been Talking About Shutting Down Healy 1?
GVEA had scheduled the June 27 meeting to decide to either decommission the Healy 1 coal plant or invest in updates to it. In a decision that came as a surprise, the board voted to decommission Healy 2, the larger of the two Healy coal plants, while committing $26 million to outfit Healy 1 with a pollution-control system. The GVEA board also voted for an unprecedented investment into new wind power and battery storage, representing a substantial step towards a clean energy future. The goal of 40MW of new wind power would represent an expansion of wind generation that is larger than any wind farm currently in Alaska.
FCAC members celebrate the decision to retire Healy 2 as a step toward a much-needed transition to renewable energy and away from coal. However, keeping Healy 1 operating requires millions of dollars of additional investment into a resource that must be phased out in the next 10-30 years to keep in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommendations and shift to 100% clean energy and 100% carbon reductions goals by 2050.
GVEA committed to a plan that includes taking the following actions over the course of the next 2 years:
GVEA will invest $26 million into upgrading the Healy 1 coal power plant with a pollution control device to extend its lifespan
GVEA management team will develop a plan within 90 days to retire the Healy 2 coal power plant (the larger of the two) by Dec. 2024.
Within 90 days, they will put out a request for proposals for 40MW of wind power - an amount that is approximately double the capacity of GVEA’s current wind turbines!
Within 90 days move forward with plans to purchase a new battery energy storage system to complement the wind power of at least 46 MW / 184 MWh
Secure an agreement to buy 30-50MW of natural gas power from Southcentral Alaska via the Alaska Intertie transmission lines
The result of this will be that a very substantial chunk of GVEA’s current generation from coal will be switched to a mix of wind and natural gas, with battery storage helping to keep power going even when the wind dies down. If all goes as planned, within several years this strategy should reduce GVEA’s carbon emissions 37% over 2012 levels - a major and rapid step forward towards climate action for the Interior!
Celebrating Persistent Deep Climate Action
Kenzley Defler, Energy Justice Organizer for FCAC, stated, “The persistent voices of member owners over the past several years have worked to ensure GVEA’s decision to start shifting away from coal, and our community should take a moment to celebrate this historic vote. We are eager to support the continued momentum to move toward deep climate action locally: retiring all existing coal plants, supporting worker transitions and retraining, acquiring federal transition dollars while implementing community solar projects, integrating on-bill financing policies and encouraging GVEA to increase their carbon reduction goal while centering democratic community engagement and social equity.” This win was only possible through the combined efforts of all of us doing our parts over the past several years to push for action - whether through advocacy, commenting at meetings, electing strong candidates, & even those working on the inside of GVEA. So we want to say thank you for helping make this possible, and we're excited to keep moving to win even more!
What’s Next for us?
The FCAC renewable energy working group will continue organizing with community members to encourage further action from GVEA to increase their carbon reduction goal and make a roadmap that transitions workers and centers transparency and accountability while achieving 100% carbon reductions by 2050. This is not only possible but necessary, and FCAC will continue to encourage the energy cooperative to take action that centers the needs of workers and community members across the Interior.
Do you want to get involved?
The Renewable Energy Working Group holds meetings on the first Monday of each month from 5:30 to 7:00 as well as multiple sub-committees. We’d love to have you join our efforts! If you would like to learn more, email kenzley@fbxclimateaction.org.
