Dive Summary:

• Meera Kohler, president and CEO of the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, is promoting a high-voltage, direct-current transmission grid project designed to take advantage of the state’s natural gas abundance along is North Slope.
• The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. estimated that the cost of such a pipeline and its support facilities would be around $7.52 billion.
• If pursued, the project could supply power to communities along its route by as early as 2019.

From the article:

“Rural Alaskans pay a lot more for energy and use much less than residents of hub communities,” said Meera Kohler, president and CEO of Anchorage-based Alaska Village Electric Cooperative. “The poorest Alaskan households spend up to 47 percent of their income on energy, more than five times their urban neighbors.”

Kohler, a member of the NRECA board of directors, recently co-chaired the Commonwealth North Rural and Alternative Energy Study Group, which examined the state’s current energy issues. The panel, made up primarily of energy industry executives and analysts from the finance and public sectors, recently briefed members of the Alaska State Legislature on its findings. ...