Alaska's Fire Island Wind Secures 25-Year Power Deal

Alaska's Fire Island Wind project has been generating electricity for over a decade and will continue to do so for another 25 years. CIRI, one of 12 land-based Alaska Native regional corporations, developed and constructed the wind farm on its own island off Anchorage's west coast.

The $65 million project was completed in 2012 and has been producing an average of 49,000 megawatt-hours per year since then. This is equivalent to powering over 7,500 households. The turbines have a remarkable capacity factor of about 32% and have achieved an annual capacity factor of 99.76%

The project's price of 9.7 cents per kilowatt-hour may seem high, but it has become a hedge against future increases in natural gas prices. Chugach Electric Association, which signed a 25-year contract with CIRI, estimates that the wind power will save them $2.4 million per year.