Business
Alaska Power & Telephone Welcomes New Heat Pump Deployment Initiative to its Prince of Wales Island Service Area
Alaska Power & Telephone Welcomes New Heat Pump Deployment Initiative to its Prince of Wales Island Service Area.
About this update from Alaska Power & Telephone Co.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nAlaska Power & Telephone Company (AP&T) is excited to announce that Spruce Root – a southeast Alaska non-profit and Community Development Financial Institution – was selected to receive a $2.5m US DOE grant for a heat pump deployment project for Prince of Wales Island. The project, titled “Decarbonizing the Tongass with Tribally Owned Heat Pumps,” will be a multi-year initiative to add 240 air source heat pumps to residential homes in Prince of Wales Island communities. The program will also include a workforce development component, training local Alaska technicians to maintain heat pumps and perform new installations on a sustainable basis into the future.\n\n\nPrince of Wales has an abundance of hydropower provided by the Black Bear Lake, South Fork, and Híilangaay hydropower projects. However, most residents heat their homes and businesses with oil- or propane-based heating systems, using fossil fuels barged in from out of state. Air source heat pumps will utilize local renewable energy from the AP&T’s utility system, helping to more fully utilize existing hydropower resources, and evolve the local microgrid. The project will help reduce emissions, improving air quality within Prince of Wales communities, and the Tongass National Forest.\n\n\nThe project builds upon the success of an innovative heat pump incentive partnership between AP&T and Sealaska Corporation. Beginning in 2022, the two businesses developed a consumer incentive program for heat pumps to further clean energy development and mutually-held environmental goals. Spruce Root – a Sealaska partner – joined in efforts to seek federal grant funding to scale up the initiative to achieve more rapid penetration of heat pump technology. The three entities worked together to apply for funds until finally achieving success via the US DOE's “Energy Improvement in Remote Areas” program.\n\n\nSpruce Root Executive Director Alana Peterson remarked: “Spruce Root is excited to be partnering with private industry to improve the community and environmental well-being on Prince of Wales Island. It was important to design this application to fund the purchase and installation of residential heat pumps, and provide training to the on-island workforce for installation and maintenance of the heat pump...