United States 

Department of 

Agriculture

Forest Service

Pacific Northwest 

Research Station

Research Paper

PNW-RP-579

June 2009

Assessing the Potential 

for Conversion to Biomass 

Fuels in Interior Alaska

Nancy Fresco and F. Stuart Chapin III

DEPAR TMENT OF AGRICULT URE
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multiple use management of the Nation’s forest resources for sustained yields of wood, 

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Authors 

Nancy Fresco is network coordinator, Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning, 

University of Alaska, and F. Stuart Chapin III is professor of ecology, 

Department of Biology and Wildlife and the Institute of Arctic Biology, 

University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska 99775.

This work was completed under agreement 06-JV-11261952-431 with the 

Pacific Northwest Research Station.
Abstract

Fresco, Nancy and Chapin F. Stuart III. 2009. Assessing the potential for 

conversion to biomass fuels in interior Alaska. Res Pap. PNW-RP-579. 

Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific 

Northwest Research Station. 56 p.

In rural Alaskan communities, high economic, social, and ecological costs are 

associated with fossil fuel use for power generation. Local concerns regarding 

fuel prices, environmental contamination, and the effects of global climate 

change have resulted in increased interest in renewable energy sources. In this 

study we assessed the feasibility of switching from fossil fuels to wood energy 

in rural Alaskan villages in forested regions of interior Alaska. Modeling results 

based on recent data on rural energy use, demographics, economics, and forest dynamics indicated that the installation costs of biomass systems would be 

recouped within 10 years for at least 21 communities in the region. In addition, 

results showed that all but the largest remote communities in the interior could 

meet all their electrical demand and some heating needs with a sustainable 

harvest of biomass within a radius of 10 km of the village. Marketable carbon 

credits may add an additional incentive for fuel conversion, particularly if U.S. 

prices eventually rise to match European levels. Biomass conversion also offers 

potential social benefits of providing local employment, retaining money locally, 

and reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire near human habitation. This 

analysis demonstrated that conversion to biomass fuels is economically viable 

and socially beneficial for many villages across interior Alaska.

Keywords: Biomass fuel, carbon offset, interior Alaska, wood energy. 
Summary

Rural Alaskan communities are faced with the concurrent problems of high fuel 

prices for electricity and heating, high fire risk owing to increasing fire severity and 

fuel buildup around communities, and environmental contamination from extensive 

use of diesel fuel. In this study we sought partial solutions for all of these problems 

through use of wood energy in rural Alaskan villages in forested regions of interior 

Alaska. We assessed the feasibility of this fuel substitution from an ecological, 

economic, and social viewpoint using separate submodels, then analyzed our results 

as a whole.

Owing to the high costs of fuel transport and storage in rural Alaska, energy 

prices are extremely high. Consumers pay an effective rate of up to 35 cents per 

kWh in some regions, despite substantial state subsidies. Our focus was on use of 

black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) in relatively simple small-scale boilers 

for electrical power generation, with the possibility of using waste heat in combined 

heat and power systems. In addition, we explored the possibility of communities 

obtaining carbon offset credits that could be traded on the open market.

The ecological submodel estimated the maximum travel distance necessary 

for biomass harvest for wood energy around each of the 36 villages studied. This 

submodel took into account village population, per capita energy use, the fraction 

of total energy use to be replaced with biomass energy, rotation length for forest 

harvest, biomass density for black spruce at harvest age, wood energy density, 

electrical efficiency, and percentage of forest cover.

The economic submodel explored the short- and long-term costs and benefits 

of switching from diesel energy to wood energy in these remote communities, and 

estimated the period needed to pay back capital investments. In our calculations, we 

used the installed cost of a biomass power system per kilowatt of generation capacity, the total biomass capacity installed, the actual energy offset, diesel efficiency, 

diesel price, the fraction of nonfuel costs offset by use of biomass, total nonfuel 

costs, biomass energy generated, biomass energy costs, and the value of carbon 

credits available owing to fuel offset.

We explored the effects of model input selection and model parameter uncertainty on model outputs by performing sensitivity analyses on both the ecological 

and the economic submodels.

Our social analysis was qualitative, and focused on factors likely to affect the 

feasibility of fuel substitution, including threshold requirements for success in any 

one community. We also examined potential feedback between ecological, economic, and social factors, and assessed ways in which they might in combination 

affect the feasibility of wood biomass fuel use in Alaska villages.
Our analysis was intentionally conservative, and may therefore have underestimated potential advantages of conversion to biomass fuels. Nevertheless, 

modeling results indicated that the installation costs of biomass systems would be 

recouped within 10 years for at least 21 communities in the region. In addition, 

results showed that all but the largest remote communities in the interior could 

meet all their electrical demand and some heating needs with a sustainable harvest 

of biomass within a radius of 10 km of the village. The greatest economic feasibility is demonstrated by villages that are not easily reached by either road or river 

networks. The greatest ecological feasibility occurs in communities of small to 

medium size, where the wood resources needed are available within a relatively 

small radius. Marketable carbon credits may add an additional incentive for fuel 

conversion, particularly if U.S. prices eventually rise to match European levels. Biomass conversion also offers potential social benefits of providing local employment, 

retaining money locally, and reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire near human 

habitation. Success of a fuel conversion project in a community is likely to depend 

upon the existence of local advocates and participants; sufficient local technological 

skills; and collaboration among communities, funders, and electrical cooperatives. 

This analysis demonstrated that conversion to biomass fuels would be economically viable and socially beneficial for many villages across interior Alaska. Pilot 

projects offer the next step in testing feasibility.

1

Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

Introduction

The excess carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil 

fuels is having measurable impacts on the Earth’s climate, with even more profound 

impacts likely in the future (Hansen et al. 2005a, Houghton et al. 2001, Karl and 

Trenberth 2003, Prentice et al. 2000). Moreover, fossil fuels are a non-renewable 

resource with uncertain future prices and availability owing to limited supplies 

and fragile international trade agreements. Thus, academic, industrial, and governmental researchers are increasingly exploring renewable sources of energy. 

Potential sources of sustainable energy include solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, wind, and biomass. Although each of these options has positive and negative 

attributes, biomass energy holds immediate promise because it is broadly available, 

fairly well developed technologically, and in some cases can be linked to other 

benefit streams in addition to the production of energy. In the United States, interest 

in woody biomass as a fuel is increasing as both an alternative fuel and a means of 

reducing fire risk near forested communities (GAO 2005). 

The two primary obstacles that currently limit the use of woody biomass in the 

United States are low cost-effectiveness and lack of reliable supply (GAO 2005). 

For example, the cost of producing electricity from woody biomass using current 

technologies in the United States is currently 7.5 cents per kWh, whereas the market 

price for this electricity is only 5.3 cents per kWh (GAO 2005). 

These obstacles might be overcome if selected communities can institute pilot 

projects that demonstrate the efficacy of biomass energy, provide a testing ground 

for improvements, and at the same time enjoy immediate economic and social 

benefits locally. We propose that the ideal locations for such pilot projects might be 

in communities with the following attributes: 

• Relatively small and self-contained with simple infrastructure

• High current cost of power and/or heat

• Proximity to sustainable supplies of woody biomass

• Lack of social opposition to use of biomass fuel 

• Strong social impetus to mitigate global climate change

• Interest in obtaining marketable carbon credits

• Existence of other social and economic considerations that make 

biomass harvest and use a desirable option.

Many villages and towns in interior Alaska fit all of these criteria. Rural 

Alaskans are disproportionately exposed to the effects of climate change, which 

is most pronounced at high latitudes (ACIA 2005), and struggle with rising fuel 

costs in a mixed economy characterized by high transportation costs. In rural 
2

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Alaskan communities, mainstream fossil fuel technologies are prohibitively 

expensive. Large quantities of alternative fuels in the form of woody biomass 

(chiefly black spruce, Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) are available in this region, and 

the technology to use these fuels is relatively simple. Moreover, positive economic 

externalities may be realized through forest thinning or clearing, given the risks 

of forest fires to life and property, the direct costs of fire suppression, and the 

negative impacts of fire suppression on long-term ecosystem services. The advent 

of carbon trading markets in both the public and private sectors provides a source 

of additional revenue for alternative energy projects that could potentially tip the 

balance toward renewable energy sources (Duval 2004), although because such 

markets are slow to develop, this analysis does not depend upon their existence. 

Biomass can be used for heating, for energy generation, or for combined heat and 

power. This paper’s focus is at the village level rather than the household level at 

which many heating choices are made; thus we chose to explore the possibility of 

conversion of village diesel generation facilities to renewable energy sources as one 

way in which villages might partially mitigate climate change, earn tradable carbon 

credits, reduce fuel costs, reduce fire risk, and increase local autonomy, thereby 

reducing vulnerability to external social and economic change.

In many regions both in the United States and abroad, immediate transition 

to alternate fuels is limited for economic, technological, or sociopolitical reasons. 

However, in much of interior Alaska, economic drivers, governmental infrastructure, available natural resources, and social imperatives all point toward the viability of conversion to new energy sources. We suggest that fuel conversion programs 

could be implemented in such a manner as to have positive effects on these systems. 

We further suggest that interior Alaska has the opportunity to provide leadership in 

this arena.

Previous studies have examined the feasibility of using wood fuel for energy 

generation in particular communities, including Dot Lake (AEA 2000a) and 

McGrath (Crimp and Adamian 2001). However, these studies cannot easily 

be extrapolated to other communities, and do not examine such factors as fire 

risk reduction and job creation. In this paper we provide a more comprehensive 

assessment. We analyze the feasibility and sustainability of potential biomass 

energy programs in rural Alaska by creating a social, biological, and political model 

framework within which we evaluate not only a wider range of financial costs 

and benefits, but also the interactions of ecological feasibility, social acceptability, 

community interest, and leadership commitment.
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

3

Background: System Components

Energy Systems in Rural Alaska

Approximately 200 villages in Alaska have no connection to the electrical grid that 

links Alaska’s largest communities. Prior to the 1960s, electricity was not available 

to most rural Alaskans (AVEC 2005). Now, these villages are generally supplied 

with electricity by diesel generators ranging from about 15 to 3100 kW in energy 

output (AEA 2000b). In total, 382 971 145 kWh of power were produced through 

diesel generation in Alaska in 2004, and 28,476,898 gal (107 459 992 L) of diesel 

fuel were consumed (AEA 2004). Many rural communities are part of regional 

cooperatives, including the Alaska Village Electrical Cooperative, Inc. (AVEC), 

which operates more than 150 diesel generators in 51 communities that run a 

cumulative 414,822 hours a year (AVEC 2005).

Because most rural Alaskan communities are not on the road system, fuel for 

these generators must be transported by barge or airplane. Thus, in most cases, fuel 

can only be transported during summer, and enough fuel to last a full year must be 

stored on site (Colt et al. 2003). Maintaining this large storage capacity for fuel has 

posed significant environmental problems and incurred hundreds of million dollars 

of expenses (Colt et al. 2003, Duval 2004). 

Because of the high costs of fuel transport and storage in rural Alaska, energy 

prices are extremely high. Consumers pay an effective rate of up to 35 cents per 

kWh in some regions. Less than half the total cost of electricity in rural Alaska 

can be directly attributed to fuel costs (Colt et al. 2003). Storage alone adds an 

estimated $0.40/L, owing to capital expenses and spill response capability—which 

itself may add as much as $0.16/L (UAF 2005). 

Even in urban areas, electricity is more expensive in Alaska than in other parts 

of the country. In Fairbanks, the largest community in the interior and Alaska’s 

second-largest city, residential power costs over 11.6 cents per kWh, not counting 

additional charges (GVEA 2005), 35 percent more than the nationwide average 

cost of residential electricity (EIA 2005). 

In rural areas, much higher costs occur despite substantial subsidies. Alaska’s 

Power Cost Equalization Program (PCE) provides assistance based on an algorithm 

that discounts costs between 12.0 and 52.5 cents per kWh by 95 percent (AEA 

2004). Average residential rates without the subsidy would be more than 60 cents 

per kWh in some communities. Even so, the combined costs borne by consumers 

and the PCE program still do not account for a large proportion of the real costs of 

the system, which are funded by government grants, mostly for infrastructure. For 

small independent villages that are not AVEC members, these grants cover more 
4

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

than half (55 percent) of the real costs; for AVEC members, they cover approximately 

26 percent (Colt et al. 2003). As the umbrella group for all village energy programs, 

the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) administers and/or funds rural power system 

upgrades, the PCE program, energy conservation and alternative energy development, circuit rider maintenance and emergency response, utility operator training, 

a bulk fuel revolving loan fund, a power project loan fund, and maintenance of 

AEA-owned facilities. Although AEA has its own capital fund, recent capital project 

funding for bulk fuel storage upgrades and rural power system upgrades has come 

primarily from the Denali Commission, a federal-state partnership established by 

Congress in 1998 to provide critical utilities, infrastructure, and economic support 

throughout Alaska. It has been supplemented by other federal grants from agencies 

such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development (HUD), as well as by state appropriations for capital expenditures. 

Rising fuel price is likely to be the single greatest driver for a change from 

diesel-only systems. Diesel power generation is expensive in both direct and hidden 

costs. Among these are air pollution; problems with effective storage, resulting in 

soil and groundwater contamination from spills; spills during transport or transfer, 

resulting in larger scale contamination and risks to humans and wildlife; risk of nondelivery of fuel under adverse conditions, resulting in loss of power; and dependency 

on the PCE program (Colt et al. 2003). A typical rural village has separate tank farms 

owned and operated by the city government, the tribal government, the village corporation, the local school, the electric utility, and other public or private entities. As of 

1999, the EPA considered 97 percent of these tank farms to have serious deficiencies, 

including inadequate foundations, dikes, joints, and piping; improper siting near 

water sources; and rust and corrosion (EPA 1999, Poe 2002).

Biomass Investment and Technology

Developing village biomass projects is timely, given new interest and potential 

funding for wood energy in interior Alaska. The Alaska Wood Energy Development Task Group, a recently formed coalition of federal and state agencies and 

other not-for-profit organizations, is now actively coordinating the state’s efforts to 

increase the use of biomass for energy in Alaska. Since 2004, the task group has 

been soliciting biomass energy project proposals from communities for funding with 

AEA-earmarked funding. As of 2007, AEA had budgeted $669,674 for wood energy 

activities (AEA 2005, AEA 2007).

Wood fuel has traditionally been converted into energy via open burning, fireplaces, and wood stoves. In traditional applications, the energy efficiency of biomass 
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

5

fuels for heating, cooking, and energy production is very low—in some cases as 

low as 10 percent (Kishore et al. 2004). However, biomass technology has improved 

over the past decade and has enjoyed success in other parts of the world, including 

Scandinavia and India. New biomass technologies allow for both more efficient 

energy conversion and—owing to a hotter and more complete burn—greatly 

reduced emissions of particulates and carbon monoxide. Biomass fuels can include 

whole trees, cut firewood, chunk-wood, compressed sawdust pellets or briquettes, 

or gasified wood. These fuels can be used for electricity generation, heating, or 

a combination of both. Modern methods that offer greater combustion efficiency 

and lower emissions of air pollutants include combustion in a modern boiler/steam 

turbine system, direct wood gasification, or pyrolysis (Bain et al. 1996). Although 

energy release is highly efficient in all of these systems, considerable energy is lost 

in converting that energy to electricity. Typically, the overall efficiency of a system 

that is only used to generate electricity is a mere 25 to 30 percent (Bain et al. 2003). 

However, much of the energy lost is converted to heat. If heat is also a desirable 

product, as is the case for most of the year in interior Alaska, the boiler system can 

be configured for the simultaneous production of heat and electricity. More than 50 

rural Alaska communities—or approximately 27 percent—already have combined 

heat and power (CHP) systems (Crimp and Adamian 2001, MAFA 2004) and 

therefore have the infrastructure for heat and power distribution. Although system 

configurations range widely, a preliminary assessment of the market indicates that 

70 percent of rural Alaska communities could make cost-effective use of combined 

heat and power systems (MAFA 2004).

Boiler systems are the simplest choice for biomass heat and power generation. 

In such a system, whole-tree wood chips or chunks are oxidized with excess air 

circulation, either in a stoker or a fluidized bed, and the hot flue gases released produce steam in the heat-exchange sections of a boiler. Some of this steam produces 

electricity via a turbine in a Rankine cycle, and the excess steam is used for heat 

(Bain et al. 2003). 

Wood gasification and pyrolysis are potentially 30 to 40 percent more efficient 

than direct combustion, require less water, and result in cheaper costs per kWh, 

but generally involve more complex operation and maintenance requirements and 

newer and less proven technology.1

 Wood gasification is the process of heating 

wood in an oxygen-limited chamber to a temperature range of 200 to 280 °C until 

volatile gases including carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and oxygen are released from 

1 Scahill, J. 2003. Biomass to energy: present commercial strategies and future options. 

Presentation. Denver, CO. Healthy Landscapes and Thriving Communities: Bioenergy and 

Wood Products Conference. U.S. Department of the Interior. Jan. 21.
6

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

the wood and combusted (Bain et al. 2003). Several methods of gasification exist; 

however, updraft gasifiers are the simplest and most reliable (see footnote 1) and 

thus the only type considered in this analysis. 

Carbon Markets

Although the United States is not a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol on Climate 

Change, and policy analysts predict that carbon dioxide (CO2 ) reductions will not 

become mandatory in the United States in the near future (McNamara 2004), the 

ramifications of this international agreement, as well as the dialogue that led to its 

creation, have nonetheless altered the way in which U.S. carbon stocks and fluxes 

are likely to be managed in the future. 

In signatory nations, long-term carbon sequestration has become a commodity that can be traded against carbon emissions based on a cap-and-trade system 

(McNamara 2004). Likewise, reduction of emissions from nonrenewable sources 

(generally fossil fuels) can be traded against increases in other sectors. In January 

2005, the European Union—including all 25 of its member states—initiated the 

European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), a legally binding international 

trading market in greenhouse gas emissions. Russia, Canada, and Switzerland are 

working toward instituting parallel systems (Kirk 2004). The transferability of 

carbon credits has opened up international economic possibilities never before seen, 

although some parallels can be drawn to the successful mitigation of sulfur dioxide 

pollution in the United States through use of tradable pollution credits (CCX 2006). 

Meanwhile, nongovernmental markets have already appeared, even in nonsignatory nations. In the United States, the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is 

currently the most viable carbon credit market (McNamara 2004). It is acting as a 

self-regulating voluntary market, administering the world’s first multisector and 

multinational emission-trading platform. By participating in trading through CCX, 

corporations, municipalities, and other institutions have made legally binding 

commitments to reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases. Carbon emitters as well 

as credit holders are banking on future increases in the price of credits because of 

either international agreements or state and local laws. By entering the market early, 

buyers are showing good will and environmental responsibility, as well as setting 

up relationships that may prove lucrative in the future (McNamara 2004). 

Alaska has yet to participate in nascent carbon markets, although the passage 

into law of a bill promoting carbon credit research (Berkowitz 2004) demonstrates 

the state’s interest in both climate change and carbon-credit trading. Some states 

and geographic regions are already making local commitments to reduce greenhouse emissions. For example, in August 2001, the New England Governors and 
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

7

Eastern Canadian Premiers signed a regional climate change agreement aimed at 

reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2010, and reducing emissions 

to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. To meet the requirements of this agreement, participatory states are creating local control mechanisms. In California, 

Governor Schwarzenegger signed Executive Order S-3-05 in June 2005, dictating 

that the state’s greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced to 2000 levels by 2010, 

to 1990 levels by 2020, and to 80 percent of 1990 levels by 2050 (Schwarzenegger 

2005).

Under the rules of the Kyoto Protocol—which are often used as guidelines, 

even in nonsignatory markets—tradable credits can be obtained in a number of 

ways, including afforestation, reforestation, and conversion from fossil fuel use to 

carbon-neutral fuels. For the purposes of carbon accounting, biomass can be considered carbon neutral: although carbon is emitted when biomass is burned, forest 

regrowth should, over time, take up an equal quantity of carbon. However, because 

the time scales of emissions and absorption differ, the sustainability of the forests 

from which biomass is harvested must be certified. All emission reductions and 

tradable carbon credits must be monitored, verified, and certified by a third party 

that provides both confirmation that the carbon exists and insurance that it will be 

sequestered for the duration of the commitment period. Marketable carbon offsets 

also require proof of additionality—an assurance that sequestration or emission 

reductions would not have occurred had the project not been implemented. Finally, 

projects must not lead to “leakage”: emission increases in another sector that can be 

attributed to reductions in the credited sector (Innes and Peterson 2001, UN 1997). 

In interior Alaska, fuel substitution may hold the greatest promise for attaining marketable carbon credits. Unlike credits based on afforestation, reforestation, 

or increased forest stocking, fuel offset credits are not one-time credits; as more 

fossil fuel use is offset over time, more credits can be earned. In addition, biomass 

energy generation can theoretically be developed on a wide range of scales. Finally, 

as described above, fuel offsets may be possible within a framework that generates 

other positive outcomes in addition to reduction of carbon emissions.

Forest Ecology and Ecosystem Services

The ecological sustainability of any proposed biomass fuels project will be 

pertinent not only from the point of view of achieving certifiable forestry practices 

in order to verify carbon sequestration credits, but also from the perspective of 

maintaining other ecosystem services. Historically, naturally occurring fires in 

interior Alaska have created a variegated landscape with multiple age classes of 

forest succession (Dyrness et al. 1986), each of which provides different resources 
8

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

(e.g., berries, moose browse, cover for furbearing mammals, and habitat for 

woodland caribou). However, fire suppression around inhabited areas tends to 

decrease average annual area burned (Dewilde and Chapin 2006), which over time 

will tend to increase average forest stand age and reduce this variability while 

also increasing the risk of future fires. Although harvest and fire do not result 

in identical post-disturbance trajectories (Rees and Juday 2002), harvest does 

offer a means of introducing age-class variability and reducing fire risk around 

communities.

Goals and Objectives

The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of switching from fossil fuels to 

wood energy in rural Alaska villages located in forested regions of interior Alaska 

(fig. 1) that are not supplied with electricity via the railbelt (the centralized power 

grid connecting Anchorage, Fairbanks, and other relatively large communities). 

More specifically, the study’s objectives were to:

1. Create a quantitative ecological model of the footprint of potential 

biomass harvest for wood energy around interior Alaska villages.

2. Create a quantitative economic model of the short- and long-term costs 

and benefits of switching from diesel energy to wood energy in these 

remote communities.

Figure 1—Remote Alaska communities. About 90 communities (represented 

by dots) lie in forested regions (green-shaded area). Approximately half of 

these are in the Interior region considered in this study (roughly demarcated 

by black line). Adapted from Crimp and Adamian 2000.
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

9

3. Explore the effects of model input selection and model parameter 

uncertainty on model outputs.

4. Qualitatively assess the effects of social factors on the feasibility of 

fuel substitution. 

5. Examine potential feedback between ecological, economic, and social 

factors, and assess ways in which they might in combination affect the 

feasibility of wood biomass fuel use in Alaska villages.

Methods

Ecological Feasibility

For selected interior Alaskan villages, we created a simple model to estimate the 

area required to supply aboveground tree biomass over a rotation length that would 

mimic natural fire cycles while reducing fire risk in communities, optimizing 

aesthetic and subsistence values, and protecting ecosystem integrity. The biomass 

required was calculated from input variables and model parameters selected based 

on published data. Input variables included village size, village per capita energy 

needs, and optimal harvest rotation length. Parameters internal to the model 

included forest cover, forest volume, predicted biomass growth curves, and energy 

outputs by harvest volume.

Model output was expressed as maximum travel distance to obtain wood 

fuel—in other words, the distance between a village and the perimeter of the circle 

circumscribing the area of sustainable yield necessary to meet the needs described 

by the input variables. The radius (r) of a circle of area A is defined as 

r = π

A . 

The area (A) necessary for fuel collection around a village would be a function 

of the population and its energy needs, the percentage of those needs to be met by 

biomass, the percentage of land included as productive for black spruce, the energy 

available per acre of wood harvested, and the frequency with which any particular 

acre could be harvested. Thus, the general formula used was 

 Dmax = ××××× π

××××

FcEeEwAdBd

REoEpcP 01.0

Where:

Dmax = maximum travel distance (km)

P = village population

Epc = per capita energy use (kWh/yr)

Eo = Energy offset (fraction of total energy use replaced with biomass energy)
10

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

R = Rotation length for forest harvest (years)

Bd = biomass density (t/ha) for black spruce at harvest age (green weight)

Ad = correction factor for converting green to air-dried wood (t air-dry/t green)

Ew = energy available from air-dried wood (kW/t)

Ee = electrical efficiency (fraction of gross heating value converted to 

electrical energy)

Fc = Forest cover (black spruce forest as fraction of total land area)

0.01 = the correction factor to convert from hectares to square kilometers

We first obtained model results for villages within the study area by using 

mean, median, or generally accepted values as initial model parameters, hereafter 

referred to as “nominal” values. Nominal parameter values were selected 

conservatively, so as to overestimate rather than underestimate the footprint of 

harvest for biomass fuels around any particular village. Likewise, parameter ranges 

were selected to represent a relatively broad set of possible outcomes. Because 

all model inputs and parameters were part of a single first-order equation, and 

because all variables were multiplicative, the sensitivity of the model to variability 

in each parameter depended only on the magnitude of the range of possible values 

for that parameter. However, some of these ranges were quite large, resulting 

in a substantial cumulative effect of parameter uncertainty. We examined the 

sensitivity of the model to uncertainty in both model inputs and model parameters 

by performing 300 stochastic model runs—100 each for minimum, mean, and 

maximum community sizes—using parameter values randomly selected from 

within each parameter range. 

Model inputs reflected known or predicted values for village sizes and energy 

usage based on Alaska census data and information published by the AEA (AEA 

2000b, 2002, 2004; ADCED 2005) (table 1). Mean population for the communities 

we focused on was 106, with a range from 21 to 1,439. We considered energy use 

at current levels, based on kWh generated rather than kWh actually used in order 

to account for inevitable waste. The mean value was 3758 kWh per capita, close to 

the 4000 kWh estimated by Colt et al. (2003). Communities with the highest usage 

were similar to the U.S. average of 10,000 kWh per capita (Colt et al. 2003). 

Rotation length was also treated as a model input, as it depends on community 

preference. We assumed that communities would seek to reduce wildfire risk as 

a byproduct of their harvest strategy and that they would therefore only harvest 

mature black spruce stands (the most fire-prone landscape type). An 80-year rotation would allow for harvest in early maturity, whereas a 200-year rotation would 

yield trees in late senescence; very few stands older than 200 years can be found 

for any species in interior Alaska (Yarie and Billings 2002). Thus, we bounded the 
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

11

Table 1—Energy use and costs in forested interior Alaska communities not on the railbelt electrical grid

Residential Actual

 Per capita Installed rate residential

electrical Fuel Average generator without rate

Community Populationa useb usec priceb capacity PCEb w/PCEb

Dollars Dollars Dollars

kWh Gallons per gallon kW per kWh per kWh

Alatna and Allakaket 122 5318 53,773 2.19 430 0.48 0.27

Aniak 532 4640 192,576 1.32 2865 0.49 0.32

Anvik 101 4644 38,474 1.32 337 0.46 0.28

Beaver 67 4379 31,436 1.92 137 0.42 0.26

Evansville and Bettles 51 13 800 58,368 1.41 650 0.41 0.20

Central 102 4921 50,104 1.22 640 0.51 0.28

Chuathbaluk 105 2036 20,200 1.70 n/a 0.56 0.32

Circle 99 3758 34,750 1.24 200 0.50 0.27

Crooked Creek 147 1731 25,258 1.69 n/a 0.56 0.32

Dot Lake 29 n/a n/a 325 0.23 0.17

Eagle and Eagle Village 183 4270 58,474 1.20 477 0.41 0.26

Fort Yukon 594 4781 207,698 1.66 2400 0.34 0.23

Galena 717 13 203 724,076 1.46 6000 0.25 0.18

Grayling 182 3235 46,352 1.52 546 0.44 0.28

Healy Lake 34 4500 14,339 1.25 105 0.40 0.24

Holy Cross 206 3437 54,340 1.51 585 0.42 0.27

Hughes 72 37,325 3.27 323 0.51 0.30

Huslia 269 3409 77,648 1.79 680 0.46 0.28

Kaltag 211 3143 57,498 1.58 573 0.46 0.28

Koyukuk 109 3241 20,830 1.89 244 0.45 0.36

Lime Village 34 2920 9,101 4.44 77 0.80 0.56

Manley Hot Springs 73 4029 26,772 1.14 480 0.60 0.36

McGrath 367 8074 221,650 1.40 2685 0.43 0.29

Minto 207 3491 56,366 1.13 558 0.40 0.26

Nikolai 121 3317 38,182 1.81 362 0.50 0.34

Northway and 195 8123 121,569 1.29 1165 0.43 0.25

 Northway Village

Nulato 320 3590 85,982 1.59 897 0.44 0.28

Red Devil 35 3612 14,490 1.83 173 0.56 0.32

Ruby 190 24,861 1.76 654 0.46 0.33

Shageluk 132 3073 31,506 1.69 370 0.46 0.28

Sleetmute 78 2939 25,314 1.69 208 0.56 0.32

Stony River 54 2156 13,994 1.69 139 0.56 0.32

Takotna 47 5292 28,219 1.72 297 0.48 0.32

Tanana 304 4533 104,270 1.34 1456 0.49 0.31

Tetlin 129 3669 40,782 1.46 280 0.47 0.27

Tok 1,439 8700 861,311 1.25 4960 0.23 0.17

Note: The penultimate column indicates what electrical rates would be in each community if Power Cost Equalization (PCE) 

subsidies were not provided by the state, and the final column shows the actual rates paid by householders.

n/a = not available. a Data from ADCED 2005.

b Data from AEA 2004.

c Data from UAA 2003.
12

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

range of inputs with these values. The nominal value was set at 110, just prior to 

apparent age- and/or fire-related decreases in stand frequency (Hollingsworth 2004, 

Yarie and Billings 2002).

Across the interior, black spruce stands account for approximately 44 percent 

of the landscape (Sharratt 1997). This was used as a nominal value, although the 

actual mean is likely to be higher because of undercounting of early-succession 

stands that would be classified as black spruce in a later successional stage. Because 

villages in areas with less than 10 percent forest cover were not considered, 10 

percent was set as the low value, and 75 percent was selected as an upper limit 

(Fitzsimmons 2003). Although forest cover approaches 100 percent in some regions 

of the interior, land around villages often contains considerable areas of rivers and 

other wetlands, so a conservative estimate was chosen. 

The energy value of dry spruce chips was bracketed within a relatively small 

range by different authors (Maker 2004, Somashekhar et al. 2000, Zerbin 1984), 

making our model relatively insensitive to changes in this parameter. Based on 

these estimates, we selected a nominal value of 8,500 btu/lb (5480 kWh/t), with low 

and high boundaries of 7,780 and 8,920 btu/lb (5018 and 5753 kWh/t). However, 

differences in moisture content substantially affect energy output, because in the 

case of high-moisture fuel, some of the energy released by combustion is used to 

evaporate water (table 2). Although many wood burner systems can be used with 

a wide range of fuel types and fuel moistures, air-dry black spruce was selected as 

the nominal fuel, owing to the general availability of the species and the relative 

technological ease of air-drying as compared to kiln-drying.

Table 2—The heating value of wood

Gross heating value Moisture

content Low Medium High

Percent - - - - - - - - - - kWh/t - - - - - - - - - 

0 5025 5490 5761

25 3769 4118 4321

30 3518 3843 4033

35 3266 3569 3745

40 3015 3294 3457

45 2764 3020 3169

50 2513 2745 2881

55 2261 2471 2593

60 2010 2196 2305

Note: Values for a wide selection of hardwoods, 

softwoods, and wood residues fall in a relatively 

narrow range, with black spruce near the high end. 

Gross heating value depends primarily on moisture 

content.
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

13

Green black spruce has a moisture content (MC) of approximately 60 percent 

(Yarie and Mead 1982), whereas air-dried wood has approximately 12 to 15 percent 

moisture (Prestemon 1998, Yarie and Mead 1982). Although this figure may in 

some cases be lower in Alaska’s dry climate, we assumed an air-dried moisture 

content of 15 percent, and thus a typical weight loss of 28 percent during the drying 

process, and a final gross heating value (GHV) of 85 percent of the oven-dry value. 

Boundary values for these parameters were set at 0 percent weight loss and 40 

percent GHV for green wood (table 2), and 31 percent weight loss and 90 percent 

GHV for wood at 10 percent moisture.

Average aboveground tree biomass (including the fresh weights of bole, 

branches, and foliage) for 80-, 110-, and 200-year-old black spruce stands in 

interior Alaska are approximately 25, 28, and 10 t/ha, respectively (Yarie and 

Billings 2002). It is likely that the low value for 200-year-old stands reflects the 

result of slow growth on shallow saturated soils; such stands would be less than 

optimal for biomass fuel management. We selected 28 t/ha as both the nominal 

and the maximum value, and 10 t/ha as the minimum value.

We assumed a nominal efficiency of 28 percent for electrical production, 

with a range of 20 to 40 percent, based on the estimates shown in Table 3. 

Overall efficiencies for combined heat and power systems are significantly 

higher. However, we chose to focus on the feasibility of wood-fired electrical 

generation and thus treated heat energy as a positive externality.

Table 3—Electrical and total efficiency of wood-fired systems

Electrical Combined heat and

Type of process efficiency power efficiency Source

Hot gasification/fuel cell 0.23 0.6 Osmosun et al. 2004

Downdraft gasification 0.40 0.9 Zerbin 1984

Gasification 0.7 Wu et al. 2003

Gasification 0.35 Willeboer 1998

Gasification/fuel cell 0.24 0.6 McIlveen-Wright et al. 2003

Combustion 0.25 USDA 2004

Biomass integrated gasification combined-cycle 0.33 Haq 2002

Gasification 0.21 Somashekhar et al. 2000

Combustion 0.20 0.6 Bain et al. 2003

 Mean 0.28 0.68

Note: Most authors report greater efficiency from gasification systems than from direct combustion.
14

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Economic Feasibility

Rural Alaskan villages have mixed economies that include significant market and 

nonmarket components, and the costs of current village energy programs are borne 

not only by community members but also by external entities. Thus, in order to 

analyze the economic sustainability of potential fuel offset programs, we considered not only the costs and benefits of construction, operation, maintenance, fuel, 

employment, and carbon sequestration credits for diesel versus biomass systems, 

but also circulation of cash income and noncash commodities within communities, 

and the effects of subsidies. We examined economic feasibility based on published 

estimates and projections for:

• Village energy consumption

• Fossil fuel cost

• Nonfuel expenses specific to diesel systems

• Existing subsidies for fossil fuels, infrastructure, and maintenance

• Installation and maintenance costs for biomass systems

• Labor and mechanical costs for wood procurement

• Existing village economies, cash flows, and employment

• Current and potential future prices for carbon credits

We created a quantitative model incorporating the above components to assess 

whether fuel conversion would be likely to have a positive economic outcome for 

each village, and over what period initial investments in biomass infrastructure 

might be recouped. 

The model input was the biomass generation capacity installed. Parameters 

internal to the model included diesel prices, nonfuel expenses specific to diesel 

systems, nonfuel expenses common to both systems, installed diesel capacity, 

actual kWh of power generated, installation costs for biomass systems, and annual 

operation costs for biomass systems. For each of these parameters we either used 

published village-by-village values or determined nominal values based on mean, 

median, or generally accepted values from the literature. Nominal parameter values 

were selected conservatively, so as to overestimate rather than underestimate the 

costs of fuel conversion. Likewise, parameter ranges were selected to represent a 

relatively broad set of possible outcomes. 

We examined the sensitivity of the model by randomly selecting parameter 

values for key variables (diesel price, biomass system installation costs, annual 

biomass operation and maintenance costs, and carbon credit prices) from the full 

range of uncertainty expressed in the literature. Using these random values, we 

analyzed the results of 10 stochastic model runs for each of the 31 villages for 

which adequate data were available.
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

15

The general formula used in the economic submodel was: 

 Y = 

= 

=

Where:

Y = years to pay back investment

Ic = installed cost of a biomass power system, per kW generation capacity

El = electrical load (total biomass capacity installed, in kW)

Ao = actual offset, in kWh (based on relationship between installed biomass 

capacity and mean electrical load)

De = diesel efficiency (gallons of diesel fuel per kWh generated)

Dp = diesel price ($/gallon for diesel fuel)

NFo = estimated nonfuel offset (fraction of nonfuel costs, e.g., fuel storage and 

spill prevention, offset by use of biomass)

NFc = total nonfuel costs (including diesel-specific costs and those common to 

biomass or diesel systems) (total $)

Bg = biomass energy generated (kWh/yr)

Bc = Biomass energy costs ($/kWh)

Cc = carbon credits available owing to fuel offset ($/gallon fuel)

Total capacity installed in each village, total annual energy use in each village, 

and much of the data on nonfuel costs and existing costs and funding sources 

for power systems was available through state Department of Community and 

Economic Development budget requests (Poe 2001, 2002) budget reports (Alaska 

2001, 2002), the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic 

Research (UAA 2003), and the AEA (AEA 2000b, 2002, 2004, 2005). For the 

most part, these parameters were incorporated in the model as given. However, the 

proportion of nonfuel costs incurred prior to or during generation (e.g., the costs of 

fuel storage and boiler operation and maintenance) were not always separated from 

those incurred after generation (e.g., the costs of distribution and customer service). 

This breakdown had to be estimated based on partial data. Average fuel prices 

were based on 2004 figures, despite the steep rise in prices over the following years. 

However, we assessed the sensitivity of this parameter within the range of -50 to 

+150 percent to account for this volatility. 

CapitolCosts

AnnualSavings

CapitolCosts

AnnualCostsOffset – AnnualBiomassCosts + AnnualCarbonCreditValue

Ic × El

(Ao × De × Dp) + (NFo × NFc) – (Bg × Bc) + (De × Ao × Cc) 
16

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

As a nominal model input, we assigned biomass capacity installed in each 

village a value equal to the mean electrical load for that community. Under this 

assumption, existing diesel systems would be at least partially retained and maintained to meet peak loads, while allowing biomass systems to run at full capacity 

for much of the time. In the communities we assessed, mean load was only 8 to 

29 percent of installed capacity (appendix), demonstrating overcapitalization that 

would probably not be necessary to replicate with biomass systems. Load profiles 

are not available for most rural Alaskan communities. However, available information from six villages of varying sizes shows combined daily and seasonal variation 

yielding peak loads that are approximately twice mean loads and threefold the 

minimum loads (Devine et al. 2005). Installation of biomass generation capacity 

greater than minimum loads would result in some unused capacity; at a capacity 

equal to mean loads unused capacity would be about 30 percent, and at a capacity 

equal to twice mean loads it would be approximately 60 percent (figure 2). 

Figure 2—Biomass generation capacity and diesel fuel savings. Owing to daily and seasonal variability in energy demands, total 

system capacity is designed to greatly exceed average loads (adapted from data on substitution of diesel systems with wind power, 

Devine et al. 2005).

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

Installed biomass capacity (percentage of mean load)

Energy usage (percent)

Percentage of diesel use

replaced by biomass system

Percentage of biomass 

generation capacity used
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

17

Diesel fuel costs would be directly offset according to the number of kilowatthours actually generated by the biomass system. Nonfuel expenses would be offset 

by the percentage of these costs associated only with diesel systems and by the 

total capacity replaced. Nonfuel generation expenses for diesel systems are steep 

because they include construction and maintenance of fuel tanks as well as spill 

response capabilities, although not all of these costs are currently internalized 

(Colt et al. 2003). We estimated that continuous operation of biomass systems at 

mean load levels would offset 60 percent of the village’s diesel fuel use, but reduce 

nonfuel expenses associated with existing systems by only 25 percent. To assess the 

sensitivity of the model to our assumptions, we compared the results with a model 

run in which biomass generation capacity replaced only 50 percent of mean loads, 

replacing 40 percent of diesel fuel use and 10 percent of nonfuel expenses (Devine 

et al. 2005).

We compiled estimates of capital costs for purchase and installation of biomass 

systems from a range of available sources (table 4). To present conservative approximations in estimating feasibility of fuel conversion, and to allow for the potentially 

Table 4—Capital costs and annual operation and maintenance (O&M) costs for biomass systems as 

compared to diesel generators

Estimated Estimated

System installed cost O&M costs

type Low High Low High Plant size Plant type Location Source

 Dollars per kW Dollars per kWh kW

Biomass systems:

1,536 1,536 0.17 0.17 100,000 BIGGCa U.S. Haq 2002

914 914 n/a n/a 35,000 BIGGC Brazil Waldheim and Carpentieri 2001

2,000 2,000 0.12 0.12 Up to 15 BIGGC U.S. ENR 2001

1,230 1,488 n/a n/a 5,000–10,000 FBCb

 U.S., Finland Bain et al 1996

1,400 2,000 0.09 0.14 25,000–150,000 BIGGC U.S. Bain et al. 2003

1,275 2,000 0.17 0.17 25,000–150,000 FBC U.S. Bain et al. 2003

2,000 2,000 0.06 0.12 2,000–25,000 Unspecified U.S. USDA 2004

980 2,500 0.15 0.20 1,000–110,000 GSc

 or FBC U.S. Scahild

900 2,200 0.15 0.20 15–650 BIGGC U.S. Scahilld

Mean 1,359 1,849 0.13 0.16

Diesel generators (rural interior Alaska):

800 1,500 0.14 1.04 >100kW U.S. EIC 2002, AEA 2004

n/a = not available. a BIGGC = Biomass integrated gasification combined cycle. Wood chips or chunks are heated in an oxygen-limited chamber to a 

temperature range of 200 to 280 °C until volatile gases including carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and oxygen are released and combusted.

b FBC = Fluidized bed combustion. Wood chips or chunks are directly combusted with excess air flow that circulates through the 

fuel bed.

c GS = Grate stoker. Wood chips or chunks are combusted in a simple stoker.

d Scahill, J. 2003. Biomass to energy: present commercial strategies and future options. Presentation. Denver, CO. Healthy 

Landscapes and Thriving Communities: Bioenergy and Wood Products Conference. U.S. Department of the Interior. Jan. 21.
18

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

higher costs of installation and operation in remote Alaskan sites, we used the mean 

of the authors’ high-end estimates, $1,849/kW, as the nominal value in our model. 

For the purposes of sensitivity analysis, we considered the range of values between 

the minimum published value ($980/kW) and 125 percent of the maximum published value ($2,500 x 1.25) = $3,125.

Generation costs (including fuel, operation, and maintenance costs) for woodpowered systems are difficult to accurately estimate, as they depend on location, 

wages, ease of fuel procurement, mechanization of harvest, and ease of maintenance. A national estimate of 7.5 cents/kWh (GAO 2005) seems far too optimistic 

for our purposes; in rural Alaska, travel costs and lack of local technical expertise 

would be expected to drive up the costs of system maintenance. However, this is 

already the case for diesel systems. Small-scale relatively nonmechanized methods 

for gathering and chipping wood might increase labor costs per ton of fuel, but the 

ready availability of both wood fuel and labor might partially balance these effects. 

We estimated generation costs based on actual costs of clearing and thinning 

projects in rural communities (table 5) (Hanson 2005, Lee 2005, USDI BLM 2005). 

In all cases, local crews were used, and the work was extremely labor-intensive 

and low-tech. Although these projects did not entail using the harvested wood for 

electrical generation, they did include manual disposal through piling and burning 

or chipping, as well as overhead and equipment costs. Translating these costs into 

equivalent energy costs resulted in a mean or nominal value of $0.16/kWh (rounded 

Table 5—Costs per acre for forest clearing projects in rural Alaska villages

Overhead and 

Fuel treatment equipment cost Wages Total cost Cost per Operating

project site Type of treatment per acre per acre per acre metric tona cost per kWhb

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dollars - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Healy Lakec Fire break 640 2,560 3,200 282 0.22

Tanacrossc Parklike clearing to 800 3,200 4,000 353 0.27

 spacing of ~12 ft

Delta Junctiond Fire break n/a n/a 1,100 97 0.07

Stevens Villagec Light thinning of 100 400 500 44 0.03

spruce understory

Fairbankse Fire break n/a n/a 2,700 238 0.18

 Mean 513 2,053 2,300 203 0.16

Note: Costs vary depending on how labor-intensive the work is and how the project is managed.

n/a = Not available.

a Assuming 28t/ha, 405ha/acre.

b Assuming 5,480 × 0.85 = 4658 kWh/t (green weight)

c Data from Hanson 2005.

d Data from USDI BLM 2005.

e Data from Lee 2005, hand-felling method only.
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

19

up to $0.17/kWh). To provide a more conservative estimate of feasibility in our 

sensitivity analysis and avoid reliance on a potentially anomalous value, we raised 

the lower end of this range to four times the costs recorded for Stevens Village (to 

$0.12/kWh), and rounded the upper limit to $0.28. Projected total generation costs 

(including fuel, operating, and maintenance) are similar to estimates of between 

$0.06 and $0.20/kWh (mean = $0.16/kWh) noted by various sources for small-scale 

or rural biomass projects (Bain et al. 2003, ENR 2001, Haq 2002, USDA FS 2004; 

see footnote 1) (table 4). This is substantially less than the real cost of diesel power 

in most villages, although it does not include the cost of distribution. 

We gathered information on village-by-village fuel use, energy use, fuel costs, 

and subsidies primarily from annual statistical reports on the PCE Program (AEA 

2000b, 2002, 2004) and Alaska Electric Power Statistics for 1960–2001 prepared 

by the Institute of Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska 

Anchorage for the AEA, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, and the Denali 

Commission (UAA 2003). Some of these data have already been shown in table 1; 

the full data set appears in the appendix.

We estimated model parameters for the value of carbon sequestration credits by 

gathering data on existing markets in the United States and Europe and calculating 

the tons of carbon offset for each 1,000 gal (3,774 L) of diesel replaced by biomass 

fuel. The estimated value of these credits covers a wide range, owing to market 

fluctuations and future uncertainty. Prior to the Kyoto Protocol taking effect in signatory nations, the trading price of carbon was typically slightly over $1 per metric 

ton. In 2005, prices fluctuated around the $2 mark, and we used a value of $1.90 in 

our analysis, despite the fact that more recent values have spiked as high as about 

$4. Although the international agreement had no direct effect on U.S. markets, it 

appears to have had an indirect effect (McNamara 2004). However, the prices of 

these voluntary credits remain far below the prices for verified emissions reductions in signatory nations. On the European Carbon Exchange (ECX), the European 

trading market, prices rose from approximately €8 ($9) at the beginning of 2005 to 

almost €30 ($38) in July 2005, and in August 2005 settled back down to about €20 

($24) (McCrone 2005).

Carbon credits represent a benefit stream from outside the village economy, 

with a value additive to all other benefit streams. We analyzed the potential value of 

the credits that could be obtained on a village-by-village basis, based on the number 

of tons of diesel offset, as determined by village energy use and biomass capacity 

installed (model input) (table 6). Although derived via different algorithms, our 

results, which estimate a total of 32,609 t of CO2 emissions from diesel power generation in rural interior forested communities, are congruent with those obtained by 
20

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Duval (2004), who estimated a total of 274 263 metric tons of CO2 emissions for all 

PCE communities, with 52 047 of these tons from “forested Alaska.” Our somewhat 

lower figures for forested interior Alaska reflect the fact that some rural forested 

communities are in the southeastern or south-central parts of the state, which are 

not considered in our analysis.

Social Feasibility

Analysis of social feasibility was primarily qualitative rather than quantitative, and 

included assessment of:

•	 Existing social infrastructure related to village electrical utility 

management and funding, fire prevention, and biomass harvest

•	 Threshold requirements (make-or-break factors needed within a 

particular community or at a broader scale, e.g., a minimum level of 

local technological expertise)

•	 Existing institutional barriers to change

•	 Potential positive social feedback (e.g., autonomy, employment)

•	 Potential negative social feedback (e.g., reactions to system quirks 

or failures)

•	 Lessons learned from existing biomass projects in rural Alaska

Table 6—Estimated annual quantity and value of potential carbon offset credits obtainable via fuel 

substitution in rural Alaska

Diesel fuel Value of carbon credits

Volumea Weightb Carbon weightc CO2 emissionsd CCXe ECXf

Liters Kilograms Kilograms Tonnes Dollars Dollars

All PCE communities 107 796 786 84 081 493 72 049 266 263 700 501,031 6,328,807

Forested PCE communities 13 329 974 10 397 380 8 909 494 32 609 61,957 782,610

 in interior Alaska

Per 1,000 gallons of diesel 3785 2952 2530 9 18 222

CCX = Chicago Carbon Exchange, ECX = European Carbon Exchange, PCE = Power Cost Equalization Program.

a AEA 2004.

b Diesel fuel weighs approximately 0.78 kg/L.

c Diesel fuel is a mixture of hydrocarbons with an average weight ratio of 12 parts carbon to 2 parts hydrogen, with small amounts of 

other elements such as sulfur. 

d When combusted, each carbon atom combines with two oxygen atoms at weight ratio of C/CO2 = 3/11. e 2006 vintage, $1.90/t, September 2005 (CCX 2006).

f 20 €/t = $24/t August 2005 (McCrone 2005).
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

21

Although funding for village power systems is provided to a large degree by 

state and federal subsidies via AEA programs, ownership and operating responsibility for many of these projects is placed entirely with local grantees (Poe 2002). 

Thus, we assumed that most ultimate decisionmaking would take place at the village level, although financing, training, infrastructure, and technological expertise 

might all come from farther afield.

In addition, we drew information from past and ongoing projects with goals 

and objectives similar to those proposed in this study. These include wood fuel 

projects such as the existing boiler at Dot Lake and the proposed biomass system 

in McGrath (Adamian et al. 1998, AEA 2000a, Crimp 2005, Crimp and Adamian 

2001); other alternative fuel projects such as wind-diesel hybrid systems (AEA 

2005, Devine et al. 2005, MAFA 2004) and fire prevention efforts that include 

forest clearing (Hanson 2005, Putnam 2005).

Several fuel treatment projects aimed at reducing the risk of catastrophic 

wildfire have already taken place in village settings, under a combination of local 

leadership and assistance from entities such as the Alaska Department of Natural 

Resources (DNR) Division of Forestry and Tanana Chiefs Conference (TCC). The 

immediate costs of these projects were noted in table 5. However, to further ascertain the impacts of these efforts at the village level, we spoke with Doug Hanson 

of DNR (2005) and Will Putnam of TCC (2005). In particular, we questioned the 

importance of local hire; the role of key leaders, elders, or crew bosses; and the 

relationship between fire crews, harvest crews, and local opinions regarding fire 

protection.

Although for the purposes of the economic submodel we calculated costs and 

benefits irrespective of the impacts on different funding sources and beneficiaries, 

analysis of benefit streams was necessary for a more indepth understanding of the 

social submodels. Thus, we qualitatively assessed the current discrepancy between 

the real cost of power and the cost borne by consumers, the potential impacts of 

shifting funding and changing subsidies, and the potential economic value of local 

jobs generated by the harvest of biomass fuels. Our analysis was based on data on 

existing sources of funding for Alaska rural energy projects (table 7), data from the 

PCE Program (appendix) (AEA 2004); and financial information from past forest 

clearing projects (table 5)
22

Table 7—Annual funds for rural Alaska energy projects, including loans and grants Federal funds State State Alaska Energy (EPA, HUD, approp- revolving Authority Denali Local To

Funded item/activity CDBG, DOE) riations loana capital fundsb Commission funds Unspecified fun

Dollars Circuit rider maintenance 100,000 200,000 30

 and emergency response Utility operator training n

Rural power system 2,300,000 2,30

upgrades Rural power operations 68,300 269,600 2,400,200 2,73

Tank farm upgrades 4,900,000 2,450,000 15,350,000 550,000 23,25

Bulk fuel revolving 51,000 5

loan fund AEA power project 835,000 83

loan fund Power cost equalization 15,617,225 15,61

Energy cost 2,500,000 2,50

reduction programc Village end use 722,000 72

 efficiency programc Wind energy assessmentc 70,000 37,000 390,000 49

Wood energy 84,000 16,000 10

 development programc Energy efficiency 137,500 62,500 20

technical assistancec AEA operation and 1,067,100 1,06

maintenance Total 5,359,800 18,536,825 886,000 115,500 18,962,000 550,000 5,767,300 50,17

Note: All of these funds are managed by the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA). EPA = Environmental Protection Agency, HUD = Housing and Urban Development, CDBG = Community Development Block Grant, DOE = Departmea These funds are expressed as annual outlays. They are generally expected to be recouped and recirculated, but at zero or reduced interest rates. b As of 2002, assets in the AEA fund were worth $800 million. c Part of the energy conservation and alternative energy development program. Data adapted from AEA 2005; 2002; 2004, Alaska Department of Community and Economic Development 2001, 2002.
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

23

Results

Ecological Feasibility

Using nominal parameter values and a forest rotation length of 110 years, the 

maximum travel distance required to collect enough mature black spruce to meet 

average electrical loads (thus supplying approximately 60 percent of total village 

power) ranged from 1.1 to 12.8 km. (table 8). 

Table 8—Estimated land area and maximum travel distance for sustainable harvest of black spruce for 

energy generation

Load offset 

Annual (biomass generation Harvest area Maximum

Community Population energy use capacity = mean load) around village travel distance

kWh kWh Hectares Kilometers

Alatna and Allakaket 122 648 861 389 317 2665 2.9

Aniak 532 2 468 700 1 481 220 10 140 5.7

Anvik 101 469 023 281 414 1927 2.5

Beaver 67 293 400 176 040 1205 2.0

Evansville and Bettles 51 703 820 422 292 2891 3.0

Central 102 501 896 301 138 2062 2.6

Chuathbaluk 105 213 737 128 242 878 1.7

Circle 99 372 000 223 200 1528 2.2

Crooked Creek 147 254 434 152 660 1045 1.8

Eagle and Eagle Village 183 781 344 468 806 3209 3.2

Fort Yukon 594 2 840 000 1 704 000 11 665 6.1

Galena 717 9 466 799 5 680 079 38 885 11.1

Grayling 182 588 761 353 257 2418 2.8

Healy Lake 34 152 986 91 792 628 1.4

Holy Cross 206 708 012 424 807 2908 3.0

Huslia 269 916 941 550 165 3766 3.5

Kaltag 211 663 172 397 903 2724 2.9

Koyukuk 109 353 250 211 950 1451 2.1

Lime Village 34 99 263 59 558 408 1.1

Manley Hot Springs 73 294 120 176 472 1208 2.0

McGrath 367 2 963 200 1 777 920 12 171 6.2

Minto 207 722 562 433 537 2968 3.1

Nikolai 121 401 400 240 840 1649 2.3

Northway and Northway Village 195 1 583 944 950 366 6506 4.6

Nulato 320 1 148 831 689 299 4719 3.9

Red Devil 35 126 434 75 860 519 1.3

Shageluk 132 405 639 243 383 1666 2.3

Sleetmute 78 229 258 137 555 942 1.7

Stony River 54 116 418 69 851 478 1.2

Takotna 47 248 705 149 223 1022 1.8

Tanana 304 1 378 060 826 836 5660 4.2

Tetlin 129 473 310 283 986 1944 2.5

Tok 1439 12 518 973 7 511 384 51 421 12.8
24

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

With the exception of the two largest communities, Tok and Galena, which have 

regional and local road systems, respectively, the maximum travel distance was 

calculated to be 6.2 km or less, a distance easily reachable by snowmachine or fourwheeler, allowing for relatively low-tech harvest using chainsaws and a portable 

chipper. Larger communities might still find biomass fuel conversion an attractive 

option if they are located in regions with sufficient forest cover or road access, and 

if per capita electrical use remains modest. Even if 100 percent of village energy 

needs were supplied by biomass, the maximum travel distance for communities 

of up to 600 inhabitants would be no more than 8 km (fig. 3). Selecting a rotation 

length of 80 rather than 110 years only modestly reduces the maximum travel distance (fig. 4), because shorter rotations are correlated with lower biomass densities. 

However, increasing the rotation length to 200 years greatly increases the harvest 

area and travel distance, owing to both the longer return interval before stands can 

be harvested again, and reduced spruce biomass per hectare in older stands.

Figure 3—Maximum travel distance for meeting a given percentage of village energy needs by biomass fuels. Model outputs estimate 

sustainable harvest of black spruce for energy generation. If installed biomass generation capacity is equal to 50 percent of mean loads, 

approximately 40 percent of the community’s electrical demand will be offset. At a capacity equal to mean loads, this rises to 60 percent 

of demand. All data assume 110-year forest rotations.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Alatna and Allakaket

Aniak

Anvik

Beaver

Evansville and Bettles

Central

Chuathbaluk

Circle

Crooked Creek

Eagle and Eagle Village

Fort Yukon

Galena

Grayling

Healy Lake

Holy Cross

Huslia

Kaltag

Koyukuk

Lime Village

Manley Hot Springs

McGrath

Minto

Nikolai

Northway and Northway Village

Nulato

Red Devil

Shageluk

Sleetmute

Stony River

Takotna

Tanana

Tetlin

Tok

Community

Maximum travel distance (km)

50% of mean load (40% of total load)

Mean electrical load (60% of total load)

100% of electrical load
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

25

Model sensitivity analysis using randomly selected parameter values from 

within each parameter range yielded a distribution of results for each of three 

village sizes (fig. 5). For a village of 21 residents, no model runs yielded a 

maximum travel distance of over 3.8 km; the mean was 1.7 km. For a village of 

106 residents, the range was 1.5 to 10.7, with a mean of 3.9 km. The distribution of 

results was broadest for the largest communities with a single outlier at 39.3 km. 

The remainder of the range fell between 5.5 and 27.5 km, with a mean of 14.2 km. 

Figure 4—Maximum travel distance for sustainable harvest of black spruce for energy generation according to selected harvest rotations. 

Rotation lengths of 80, 110, or 200 years are shown. Black spruce biomass density per hectare increases between 80 and 110 years, and 

decreases between 110 and 200 years (Yarie and Billings 2002), resulting in a steep increase in travel distance with long rotations.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Maximum travel distancefor biomass harvest (km)

Alatna and Allakaket

Aniak

Anvik

Beaver

Evansville and Bettles

Central

Chuathbaluk Circle

Crooked Creek

Eagle and Eagle Village

Fort Yukon

Galena

Grayling

Healy Lake

Holy Cross

Huslia

Kaltag

Koyukuk

Lime Village

Manley Hot Springs

McGrath

Minto

Nikolai

Northway and Northway Village

Nulato

Red Devil

Shageluk

Sleetmute

Stony River

Takotna

Tanana

Tetlin

Tok

80-year harvest rotations

110-year harvest rotations

200-year harvest rotations

Community
26

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Economic Feasibility

Because of missing data, not all economic calculations could be performed for all 

selected communities. For some villages, data were missing for fuel costs, nonfuel 

expenses, or energy generated (appendix), making it impossible to include these 

communities in model results. Thus, our results reflect a subset of forested off-grid 

villages in the interior. However, in addition to obtaining village-specific results, we 

were able to explore general relationships between village size, village accessibility, 

and economic feasibility.

For many of the communities in this analysis, total annual operating costs 

for electrical generation would be lower if part of the village’s diesel power were 

converted to a biomass-fueled system (table 9). Tetlin, Tok, Northway, Koyukuk, 

Evansville and Bettles, and Eagle show consistently negative results; however, 

since Tok and Northway are both accessible via the Alaska Highway, one of the 

state’s major thoroughfares, they may be considered anomalous as compared to 

more remote villages accessible only by minor roads or by rivers (major or minor) 

Figure 5—Distribution of results for 100 stochastic model runs for each of three village population sizes. In each model run, 

values for rotation length, biomass density, energy by moisture content, energy per ton, forest cover, and electrical efficiency were 

randomly selected from within broad accepted ranges.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39

Maximum travel distance for biomass harvest (km)

Frequency

Population 21

Population 106

Population 1,439
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

27

Table 9—Annual savings in generation costs and total capital investment associated with two levels of fuel 

system replacement

Annual savings Capital investment

Biomass capacity Biomass capacity Capacity to meet Capacity to meet

= 1⁄2 mean load = mean load 1⁄2 mean load mean load

Dollars

Alatna and Allakaket 11,320 25,317 68,479 136,957

Aniak 7,342 84,547 260,538 521,076

Anvik 146 11,945 49,499 98,998

Beaver n/a n/a 30,964 61,929

Evansville and Bettles -7,444 -3,669 74,279 148,557

Central 5,176 22,618 52,968 105,937

Chuathbaluk 6,150 16,173 22,557 45,114

Circle 601 9,562 39,260 78,519

Crooked Creek 6,615 16,765 26,852 53,704

Dot Lake n/a n/a n/a n/a

Eagle and Eagle Village -12,195 -5,423 82,460 164,921

Fort Yukon -18,945 7,847 299,724 599,447

Galena n/a n/a 999,093 1,998,186

Grayling 2,865 19,017 62,136 124,272

Healy Lake 1,120 6,035 16,146 32,291

Holy Cross 2,377 21,266 74,721 149,442

Hughes n/a n/a n/a n/a

Huslia 16,168 47,175 96,771 193,542

Kaltag 7,822 28,313 69,989 139,978

Koyukuk -6,399 -7,724 37,281 74,562

Lime Village 15,665 29,749 10,476 20,952

Manley Hot Springs 2,590 14,268 31,040 62,081

McGrath -21,238 24,279 312,726 625,452

Minto -5,593 9,675 76,257 152,513

Nikolai 4,549 11,024 42,362 84,725

Northway and Northway Village -36,149 -45,395 167,164 334,328

Nulato 5,285 36,648 121,244 242,487

Red Devil 8,855 20,129 13,343 26,687

Ruby n/a n/a n/a n/a

Shageluk 3,856 15,924 42,810 85,619

Sleetmute 8,465 19,640 24,195 48,390

Stony River 8,450 19,582 12,286 24,573

Takotna 5,892 12,228 26,247 52,495

Tanana -5,207 24,803 145,436 290,871

Tetlin -4,680 -3,332 49,951 99,903

Tok -353,480 -463,066 1,321,209 2,642,418

n/a = not available.

(appendix). Minto, Fort Yukon, and Tanana show benefits from conversion to wood 

fuel under some conditions but not under others, depending on the scale of the 

biomass generation capacity installed.

When the added benefit stream of potential carbon sequestration credits is 

added to the potential annual savings gained by biomass fuel conversion, woodfired electrical generation becomes more favorable. Even without taking carbon 
28

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

credits into account, 23 communities show a payback period of less than 25 years 

for the initial capital investment of installing a biomass electrical generation system 

adequate to meet mean electrical loads (fig. 6). A 25-year payback corresponds 

roughly to a real discount rate of 2.4 percent if the benefit stream continues for 

another 15 years. The projected time before a net positive economic balance is 

reached without carbon credits ranges from a mere 0.7 years for Lime Village and 

1.3 years each for Stony River and Red Devil, to 11.7 years for Tanana and 15.8 

years for Minto. If communities were able to sell carbon offset credits at 2005 

U.S. prices, the payback periods for Tanana and Minto would drop to 11.3 and 

14.9 years, respectively. At European carbon prices, these figures would dip to 7.8 

and 9.2 years. Villages for which it would take longer than 25 years to recoup the 

investment and communities for which the benefit stream is negative are not shown 

in this figure. However, both McGrath and Fort Yukon, two of the larger communities analyzed, show a payback period of less than 25 years when carbon credits are 

taken into consideration, but not when carbon credits are not included. 

Figure 6—Years necessary to recoup an investment in wood-powered electrical generation capacity equal to mean electrical 

loads. For each selected village, three carbon-credit trading scenarios are shown: one in which no carbon credits are sold, 

one in which available fuel-offset credits are traded at Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) prices, and one in which credits 

are traded at European Climate Exchange (ECX) prices.

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

Years to pay back capital investment

of bio

mass system installation

Alatna and Allakaket

Aniak

Anvik

Central

Chuathbaluk

Circle

Crooked Creek

Grayling

Healy Lake

Holy Cross

Huslia

Kaltag

Lime Village

Manley Hot Springs

Minto

Nikolai

Nulato

Red Devil

Shageluk

Sleetmute

Stony River

Takotna

Tanana

ECX prices

CCX prices

No carbon credits

Community
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

29

It should be noted that, although villages for which data are absent have been 

necessarily omitted from this analysis, these communities should not be assumed to 

have a poor cost-benefit balance from potential biomass projects. In general, communities not accessible via a major road showed positive results based on biomass 

generation at mean load levels (fig. 7). This relationship was particularly robust for 

communities with fewer than 100 residents.

-600

-400

-200

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700

Village population

Per capita annual savings (dollars)

Minor river

Major river

Minor road

Major road

Figure 7—Per capita savings by village size and accessibility for biomass generation at mean loads. Logarithmic regression 

curves are fitted to four categories of accessibility. Only those villages that can be reached on major roads show consistently 

negative results for replacement of fossil fuel with biomass fuels at mean load capacity. For all villages, smaller population size 

is correlated with greater per capita benefits from fuel conversion.
30

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

For many communities, our model placed biomass conversion close to the 

economic break-even point when nominal parameters were used. Stochastic model 

runs using randomly selected parameter values from within broad possible ranges 

yielded mixed economic outcomes for almost all the villages analyzed (fig. 8). Only 

10 villages—Aniak, Central, Chuathbaluk, Crooked Creek, Lime Village, Manley 

Hot Springs, Red Devil, Sleetmute, Stony River, and Takotna—showed net annual 

savings on generation costs for all 10 model runs. However, only two communities—Fort Yukon and Tok—yielded unfavorable results in 50 percent or more of 

model runs for replacement of mean load capacity. As the largest community with 

the greatest power usage, Tok also yielded the broadest range of potential annual 

costs or savings.

Figure 8—Sensitivity analysis for replacement of diesel systems with biomass electrical generation sufficient to meet peak loads. Data 

points show the results of 10 model runs using parameters randomly selected from within broad possible ranges. Tok has been excluded 

for reasons of scale; results for Tok ranged from -$1.9 million to +$1.5 million.

-300

-200

-100

0

100

200

300

400

Annual savings (thousands of dollars)

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3

Trial 4 Trial 5 Trial 6

Trial 7 Trial 8 Trial 9

Trial 10

Alatna and Allakaket

Aniak

Anvik

Evansville and Bettles

Chuathbaluk

Circle

Central

Crooked Creek

Eagle and Eagle Village

Fort Yukon

Grayling

Healy Lake

Holy Cross

Huslia

Kaltag

Koyukuk

Lime Village

Manley Hot Springs

McGrath

Minto

Nikolai

Northway and Northway Village

Nulato

Red Devil

Shageluk

Sleetmute

Stony River

Takotna

Tanana

Tetlin

Community
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

31

The ranges used in this analysis included installed costs between $980 and 

$3,125 per kW, annual operation and maintenance costs for biomass systems 

between $0.12 and $0.28 per kWh, carbon credits between $0 and $222 per 1,000 

gal (3774 L) of fuel offset; and fuel prices between 50 and 250 percent of 2004 

prices. It should be noted, however, that 2006 fuel prices were close to 200 percent 

of 2004 prices in many areas (DeMarban 2006b). If 2006 prices were used as a 

baseline, model runs would become consistently favorable in almost all communities.

When capital cost for biomass system installation was considered as a random 

stochastic variable and results were calculated for expected project payback time, 

results showed a similar pattern (fig. 9). Seven of the ten villages for which all 

model runs yielded annual savings showed a payback time of less than 25 years 

for all model runs. Only Tok showed a consistently poor ability to recoup the 

investment costs associated with biomass conversion, although other communities, 

including Evansville and Bettles, Fort Yukon, Koyukuk, Minto, and Northway 

yielded mixed results.

Figure 9—Sensitivity analysis of time necessary to recoup capital investment with biomass capacity of mean load. For each village, the 

graph illustrates the percentage of stochastic model runs for which randomly selected parameter values yielded a payback time of less 

than 25 years.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Community

Model runs (percent)

Aniak

Alatna and Allakaket

Anvik

Central

Evansville and Bettles

Circle

Eagle and Eagle Village

Fort Yukon

Grayling

Healy Lake

Holy Cross

Husila

Kaltag

Koyukuk

Lime Village

Manley Hot Springs

Minto

McGrath

Nikolai

Northway and Northway Village

Nulato

Red Devil

Shageluk

Sleetmute

Stony River

Takotna

Tanana

Tetlin

Tok
32

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Social Feasibility

Our qualitative analysis of the potential social role of biomass fuel conversion in 

rural interior Alaska yielded a conceptual map of where wood fuel might fit into 

village economies (fig. 10). Harvest of biomass fuels would provide local jobs, 

which in turn would bolster the local cash economy by recirculating money within 

each village. In contrast, payments for fossil fuels represent a monetary flow out 

of communities. Currently, economic multipliers in village economies are small. 

Income from carbon credits would create a cash flow into the community from 

an outside source—something that is often in short supply in rural Alaska. Fire is 

linked to many aspects of community wealth, in both monetary and subsistence 

categories. Thus, natural forest succession, protection of life and property, local 

wages, and subsistence foods are all linked through the presence—or absence—

of fire on the landscape.

Figure 10—A conceptual model of economic feedback interactions. Village market and nonmarket 

economies are potentially linked to biomass fuels programs. Solid arrows indicate positive effects 

and dashed arrows indicate negative effects. Note that fire can have both positive and negative 

impacts on subsistence resources, depending on time scale.

Subsistence

food and

products 

Fire

Community

resources

Biomass

fuels

harvest

Subsistence

activities

Imported

foods Payments

Income

Carbon

credits

Fossil

fuels Subsistence

resources

Jobs

Cash

economy
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

33

Analysis of the impacts of subsidies and grants on village energy choices 

revealed a substantial gap between the real costs of electrical power and the prices 

being charged to consumers (fig. 11). Moreover, the real costs of village power 

make up a substantial proportion of village income, ranging from 7.1 to 70.0 percent 

(fig. 12). Because we have included the electricity used in shared facilities such as 

washeterias, schools, and offices in our totals, our figures are much higher than 

those for household use only (Colt et al. 2003). In reality, however, the discrepancy between realized costs and real costs may be even larger, owing to hidden 

(off-book) costs covered by transfer payments other than those made via the PCE 

Program. These include government-funded construction and upgrades, many of 

which were listed in table 7. Such off-book costs account for roughly 25 percent of 

the real cost of power (Colt et al. 2003), but are not accounted for in our economic 

analysis.

Figure 11—Annual village electrical costs, expressed on a per-household basis. These figures include costs incurred for electrical use 

in private homes as well as in shared facilities such as schools, tribal offices, and washeterias. The discrepancy between the cost borne 

by consumers and the real cost of power is covered by government funding, primarily via the Power Cost Equalization Program.

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

Annual electrical costs per household (dollars)

Aniak

Anvik

Central

Chuathbaluk

Circle

Crooked Creek

Fort Yukon

Grayling

Healy Lake

Holy Cross

Hughes

Huslia

Kaltag

Koyukuk

Manley Hot Springs

Minto

McGrath

Nikolai

Nulato

Red Devil

Shageluk

Sleetmute

Stony River

Takotna

Tanana

Tetlin

Tok

Community

Cost borne by consumers (per household)

Real cost of power (per household)
34

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

The gap between real and realized costs has negative social ramifications, 

creating disincentives for locally based efficiency improvements, sustainable community planning, and innovative use of capital (Colt et al. 2003). Even if biomass 

fuel use can be shown to be an option that is feasible in a given community, village 

residents may lack the necessary economic incentive to catalyze change. Moreover, 

the small population base of most villages has in the past proven to be an obstacle 

to reliably securing the necessary human resources for governance, operation, and 

maintenance of utilities (Colt et al. 2003). On the other hand, although government 

entities may have a financial incentive to promote change and may have the necessary technical expertise and human resources, they may suffer from bureaucratic 

inertia and lack of social impetus. Based on the financial power wielded at higher 

levels of governance and the social power contained within communities, there are 

potential advantages and disadvantages associated with both top-down or bottomup approaches to managing potential village biomass projects (table 10) 

Figure 12—Village electrical costs per household expressed as a percentage of median household income for each community. 

Figures include costs incurred for electrical use in private homes as well as in shared facilities such as schools, tribal offices, and 

washeterias. The discrepancy between the costs borne by consumers (“realized costs”) and the total unsubsidized costs (“real cost 

of power”) is covered by government funding, primarily via the Power Cost Equalization Program.

Aniak

Anvik

Central

Chuathbaluk

Circle

Crooked Creek

Fort Yukon

Grayling

Healy Lake

Holy Cross

Hughes

Huslia

Kaltag

Koyukuk

Manley Hot Springs

Minto

McGrath

Nikolai

Nulato

Red Devil

Shageluk

Sleetmute

Stony River

Takotna

Tanana

Tetlin

Tok

Community

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Electrical costs as percentage

 of median annual household income

Realized cost of power

Real cost of power
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

35

At the state and federal levels, grants and other sources of funding are available 

to cover startup costs, and technical expertise is available for design and implementation work, including funds specifically allocated to renewable energy and alternative power (AEA 2005). Most of these funds would likely be channeled through the 

AEA, as detailed in table 7. 

The advantages of the infrastructural assistance and funding available through 

AEA give rural Alaska a potential edge over rural communities in less developed 

nations, where capital and technological inputs are more uniformly scarce. Even 

in India, a nation with a stronger economy than many developing nations, lack 

of financial support for technology improvements has been cited as the primary 

reason for failure of an early attempt at instituting a small-scale biomass energy 

project (Kishore et al. 2004). A national-level analysis in India showed that biomass 

gasifiers 20 to 200 kW in capacity could entirely meet rural electricity needs 

(Somashekhar et al. 2000). Some demonstration projects have proven relatively 

successful (Somashekhar et al. 2000) whereas others have not (Kishore et al. 2004). 

There are several reasons for project failure, including subsidized power available 

from the existing grid, extremely low purchasing power among village residents, 

and poor technology for burning biomass other than wood chips (such as rice 

husks and other plant residues) (Kishore et al. 2004). Because Alaska’s villages 

are largely removed from the power grid, have greater cash flows than rural Indian 

communities, and have wood as the primary source of potential biomass, these 

problems are unlikely to be applicable. 

In addition to providing funding and know-how, governments may be the 

most effective managers of some aspects of on-the-ground efforts. Some degree of 

centralization and top-down effort are predicated by the tiny size of some of the 

communities in question. For example, specialized skills such as boiler design and 

installation and engineering of combined heat and power grid systems would not be 

found in every community of 50 to 100 individuals.

Table 10—Advantages and disadvantages of top-down vs. bottom-up strategies for implementing a 

fuel-conversion program

Advantages Disadvantages

Federal government Power to limit carbon emission laws and treaties Poor understanding of Alaska

State government Power to create a statewide program Emphasis on state rather than commmunity needs

Native corporations Available capital; interest in village investments Limited to for-profit activities; no statewide mission

Power cooperatives Technical knowledge; statewide linkages Commitment to existing diesel infrastructure

Village councils Understanding of community needs Lack of economic and human resources
36

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

However, direct management from the state or federal level is rife with potential problems. The same remoteness that makes the cost of diesel fuel in villages so 

high also demands that village power and heating systems be internally rather than 

externally managed whenever possible. Cultural considerations bolster this assertion. Village residents, most of them Alaska Natives, strongly prefer local control of 

village affairs (Hanson 2005, Putnam 2005). 

Not only is local autonomy culturally preferable, it is also likely to be crucial 

for the long-term viability of biomass projects. State and federal officials are 

unlikely to be knowledgeable concerning important details such as interpersonal 

dynamics in the community, traditional use in the area around the village slated 

for harvest, and local concerns regarding fire risk. For example, during community 

studies preliminary to the installation of a biomass energy system in the village of 

McGrath, residents expressed concerns about the technical and economic feasibility of the project; the impacts of increased wood harvest on subsistence activities, 

aesthetics, and future wood supply; and overall system complexity (Crimp and 

Adamian 2001). Alaska Natives are often suspicious of solutions derived by governmental groups that are perceived to be part of the problem, and without community 

support, trust, and buy-in, programs instituted by outside entities are doomed to 

failure (Reiger et al. 2002).

In addition, local residents are likely to be able to provide realistic assessments 

of what type of employment would be considered desirable, and on what time scale 

it might be undertaken. For example, wood harvest, chipping, and transport might 

be shared informally among several individuals, and might be timed not only to 

coincide with adequate snowpack for easy transport, but also to fit in with seasonal 

subsistence activities and other seasonal employment. In most communities, gathering wood fuel is already part of subsistence activities; community members would 

be best equipped to decide how and when to expand fuel collection and how to pay 

individuals for the wood they gather. Since fuel gathering would be coupled with 

fire prevention, and because fuel collection would be most likely to occur in the 

winter via snowmachine rather than in the summer fire season, existing fire crews 

would be an obvious choice of labor force. Hanson (2005) noted that fire crews were 

involved in fuel clearing projects in Healy Lake, Tanacross, and Stevens Village, 

and that these groups generally work well together and are actively interested in fire 

protection. However, he also commented that work crews vary, and that having a 

good crew boss or leader is crucial to success.

Village councils, local light and power cooperatives, and Native corporations 

have greater power to implement projects than do individuals. For example, these 
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

37

entities are eligible for state or federal grants such as those being made available 

through the Alaska Wood Energy Development Task Group. These grants, however, 

are being channeled via AEA. At an intermediate level of governance, organizations such as AEA, AVEC, and other regional light and power cooperatives have the 

potential to help link the resources of governmental agencies with the resources of 

communities. These organizations have already taken a lead in proposing, funding, and implementing alternative energy projects (AEA 2005, AVEC 2005). Thus 

far, AVEC has focused on wind and hydroelectric power, as many of its customer 

communities are coastal. Also, AEA has taken a lead in biomass demonstration 

projects, including installation of a wood-fired boiler in Dot Lake, and a proposal 

for a larger system in McGrath. The AEA has garnered funding for such projects 

from state and federal levels, but is implementing them using criteria that take into 

account local needs and local capacities.

In the long run, a combined approach seems likely to provide the greatest 

resilience to the system. Power sharing and co-management are ideas that are starting to take hold in a range of rural applications and are likely to be appropriate in 

an Alaskan context (Reiger et al. 2002). For example, although overarching assessments of fuel supply and demand around a village might be performed by forestry 

professionals, annual harvest areas might be chosen by local village councils, based 

on community preferences.

Based on the above information, we identified the following barriers and 

thresholds to change.

Barriers:

• The majority of AEA funding is traditionally allocated to existing system 

components, not to renewable energy or new technology startup.

• In some cases, state or AEA capital funds are designated for programs 

such as PCE and bulk fuel revolving loans, which create negative economic 

externalities favoring the status quo.

• Many power cooperatives are managed regionally, not at the village level.

• No forest certification system is in place whereby carbon credits could 

immediately be secured (although the potential for development of such 

a program exists within either the Alaska DNR or native corporation 

programs such as the TCC Forestry Program).

• Failure by the United States to sign onto binding climate-change 

agreements may keep carbon credit prices an order of magnitude lower 

here than overseas.
38

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Thresholds:

• Existence of individuals within a given village who are willing and able 

to participate in fuel conversion projects, particularly village leaders 

who are willing to advocate for a biomass program, fire crews or other 

individuals actively interested in employment and fire prevention, and 

one or more crew leaders who can take responsibility for followthrough.

• Existence of necessary skills within village and the willingness of 

system operators to receive training in new technologies.

• Formation of effective cross-level collaboration, particularly between 

AEA (the likely funding agency and potential overarching project 

manager), village electrical companies or cooperatives (the likely 

applicants for funding and local managers), and individuals employed 

on the ground at the village level.

Discussion

The transition to renewable energy sources is constrained by a number of economic, 

social, technological, and political factors. These include startup costs for research 

and new infrastructure; social inertia and risk aversion; inadequately developed 

technologies; lack of availability of all energy sources in all regions; and artificially 

low costs of existing fossil-fuel systems owing to subsidies, lack of accounting for 

economic externalities, and current infrastructure. Nevertheless, our results indicate that even with conservative assumptions for ecological, economic, and social 

parameters, conversion to wood biomass energy is likely to be a feasible and attractive option for many communities in interior Alaska. A successful fuel-conversion 

program must fulfill the social, economic, and ecological needs of the system as a 

whole (fig.13).

Based on our model, the communities likely to show the greatest ecological 

feasibility for biomass conversion are those in the small to medium size categories. 

Only the largest communities—those with populations over about 300—potentially 

lack adequate wood resources for complete fuel conversion within an easily accessible radius. This pattern runs counter to the trend whereby other services such as 

schools, clinics, and airports are more cost-effective in larger communities, leading 

to governmental pressure toward consolidation of small villages. Ironically, many 

villages have shrunk in part because of the high costs of fuel (DeMarban 2006b).

The greatest economic feasibility is demonstrated by villages with the highest 

benefit/cost ratio, which tend to be those not easily reached by either road or river 

networks. For these villages, even high estimates of costs for biomass fuel systems 

show an advantage over existing high costs for fuel transportation and storage. 
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

39

Social feasibility, because it is so dependent on individuals, has yet to be 

determined on a village-by-village basis. However, it is likely to be greatest in 

communities with strong leadership, close ties to the land and its resources, and a 

core group of individuals—perhaps an existing fire crew—willing and able to work 

consistently on fuels harvest and associated tasks. These requirements tend to point 

toward medium or larger communities in remote areas.

Villages that fit both the ecological and the economic criteria include Alatna 

and Allakaket, Anvik, Central, Chuathbaluk, Circle, Crooked Creek, Grayling, 

Healy Lake, Holy Cross, Huslia, Kaltag, Lime Village, Manley Hot Springs, Minto, 

Nikolai, Nulato, Red Devil, Shageluk, Sleetmute, Stony River, and Takotna. In the 

Figure 13—Social, economic, and ecological parameters affecting a potential fuel conversion program. These parameters are 

interconnected and subject to change over time.

Economics:

Keep costs below diesel prices.

Find start-up grant money.

Maintain low operational costs.

Secure high carbon credit 

trading prices. 

Society:

Assure autonomy within 

subsistence or mixed economy 

and strengthen cultural ties to 

the land.

Create flexible local employment.

Create roles that foster local 

leadership.

Reduce wildfire risk.

Secure institutional support.

Society:

Assure autonomy within 

subsistence or mixed economy 

and strengthen cultural ties to 

the land.

Create flexible local employment.

Create roles that foster local 

leadership.

Reduce wildfire risk.

Secure institutional support.

Ecology:

Ensure sustainable wood harvest and 

successful forest regeneration.

Create positive links with subsistence 

activities and fire management. 
40

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

smallest communities in this group, the presence or absence of strong leadership 

and willing workforce would be particularly critical in determining the success 

of conversion. For example, Takotna lists zero unemployed individuals from its 

29 residents over the age of 16 (appendix). On the other hand, Aniak and Tanana 

show a positive benefit/cost ratio, but have populations above 300. Projects in these 

communities would have to be more cautious regarding wood supply, harvest area, 

and overall energy use, or might optimally be based on only partial conversion 

to wood fuel. Meanwhile Evansville and Bettles, Koyukuk, and Tetlin easily met 

ecological criteria but were on the borderline in the economic analysis. Fort Yukon, 

McGrath, Northway, and Tok all showed mixed results. These four communities are 

all either much larger than the mean, or located on a readily accessible transportation corridor, or both. Although biomass conversion projects may be feasible in 

these locations, additional factors would need to be taken into account, including 

the possibility of procuring wood from slightly farther afield (via road or river), and 

the effects of biomass conversion on the larger and more complex economies of 

these communities. Finally, inadequate data were available to fully assess potential 

feasibility for Beaver, Dot Lake, Galena, Hughes, and Ruby.

Our analysis was intentionally conservative, and may therefore have underestimated potential advantages of conversion to biomass fuels. For example, 110-year 

forest rotations are longer than would likely be considered by communities seeking 

fire protection and habitat revitalization. Our estimates for biomass per acre, forest 

cover, and carbon credit prices were relatively low, and our estimates for biomass 

system installation costs were relatively high. Perhaps the greatest undercounting 

of potential system benefits stems from the fact that, although we assumed that 

installed systems would provide both power and heat, we accounted for only the 

savings afforded by replacing the existing power supply. Although heating could 

in most cases only be provided for centrally located buildings, the savings afforded 

would likely be substantial in communities that already have infrastructure to 

support combined heat and power distribution, and worth assessing even in those 

that do not. Including heat as a resource increases estimates of biomass generator 

efficiency from approximately 28 to 68 percent (table 3). Even if less than half of 

this additional benefit stream could be effectively captured, it would increase the 

overall energy realized by more than 50 percent. An increase in system benefits 

of this magnitude would make almost all fuel conversion options economically 

attractive. Another potential source of error may stem from the fact that off-book 

expenses associated with current diesel systems were not considered, although they 

are likely to account for approximately 26 percent of total costs (Colt et al. 2003). 
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

41

Finally, all estimates were made using 2004 fuel costs, which are substantially 

lower than more recent costs (DeMarban 2006a, 2006b). Fuel costs may continue 

to rise, and federal and state subsidies may shrink or disappear. The incentives for 

fuel conversion at the village level are highest when fuel prices are highest, but 

lower fuel costs might trigger the removal of state subsidies, as state revenues are 

almost entirely dependent on oil prices. These changes would make fuel conversion 

increasingly appealing—including, in many cases, conversion of 100 percent of 

generation capacity rather than partial conversion.

In addition to the sources of uncertainty explored in this analysis, other factors could affect the feasibility and desirability of biomass conversion programs. 

New transportation corridors might lower the costs of fuel transport in some areas. 

Additional local employment opportunities might drive up local wages, thus raising 

harvest costs or reducing the potential workforce. Payback on capital investments 

could be affected by inflation, deflation, or rapid changes in interest rates. 

On the other hand, grant money such as that available through the Wood 

Energy Task Force, the Denali Commission, or AEA’s Wood Energy Development 

Program could help jump-start projects, and might make infrastructure costs less 

of a concern. New technology might reduce the installation and operation costs for 

wood gasifiers below the range predicted, or international turmoil might cause fuel 

prices to skyrocket above predicted values. Carbon credit prices would eventually 

rise to match current ECX prices, even in the United States, if new binding international agreements are reached. Moreover, if fire on the landscape is perceived 

as an ever-increasing threat, and if state and federal firefighting resources become 

strained, then forest clearing might become more socially desirable and financially 

lucrative in its own right.

Many of these potential changes or surprises would tend to increase the 

economic viability of fuel conversion. However, model uncertainty not only 

means that economic outcomes are ambiguous for many villages, but also that 

social feasibility is uncertain. Thus, pilot projects offer the next step in testing 

feasibility. Such projects would help to validate our model, test technology under 

new conditions (e.g., remote location, cold climate), provide positive lessons that 

could be incorporated into future projects, and provide experience regarding 

errors to avoid.

When ecological, economic, and social parameters are considered in conjunction with one another, a pattern of hurdles and benefits emerges (table 11). Although 

many of these have been addressed in our analysis, others can only be truly tested 

through use of real-life project implementation.
42

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Two existing pilot projects in interior Alaska demonstrate the feasibility of 

wood biomass systems and the efficacy of employing combined heat and power 

capabilities. The first, a wood-fired boiler used to heat and power eight residences 

and the washeteria in the 37-person community of Dot Lake, is already operational. 

The second, in McGrath, has not yet been completed but is slated to include a 

combined heat and power system based on continued use of diesel with a wood 

boiler providing additional energy to the system.

Dot Lake is not a typical interior village, as it is on the road system. As a 

result, diesel fuel in the community is far less expensive than in some villages, 

and our calculations show a strongly negative incentive for biomass fuels conversion. Nevertheless, Village Council President Bill Miller estimates that the village 

saves $6,500 to $13,000 in fuel costs per year using the wood-powered system 

(AEA 2000a). Capital costs were paid by external funding sources. However, wood 

prices in Dot Lake are not likely to be equivalent to prices in more remote villages, 

because in Dot Lake the boiler operates on wastes from nearby timber operations, 

which can be easily transported via road.

In McGrath, the option selected appeared economically preferable to three other 

possibilities: the status quo (all diesel); a wood boiler powering only the school; or a 

more comprehensive wood system, with diesel remaining as the backup fuel (Crimp 

and Adamian 2001). Crimp and Adamian (2001) also noted that the cost-effective 

use of biomass was highly dependent on the availability of inexpensive wood 

wastes; costs would be expected to rise sharply if roundwood harvest were required 

to operate the facility. However, at the time the analysis was done, it was assumed 

that the cost of bulk diesel would remain static at $1.54/gal ($0.41/L). In reality, 

prices have risen sharply, increasing by over 65 percent between 2003 and 2005, 

and potentially reaching $6/gal ($1.59/L) in 2008 (Bradner 2005, 2008).

Table 11—Potential hurdles and benefits associated with biomass fuel conversion in interior Alaska

Hurdles Benefits

Economic Cost of new infrastructure Wages from fuel gathering

Cost of biomass harvest Reduced cost of diesel

Social/political Political buy-in from agencies and power companies Health benefits from reduced pollution

Ensuring local involvement and continuity Greater autonomy of local communities

Technical/ecological Technical challenges of biomass energy generation Reduced fire risk

Ensuring long-term sustainability of harvest Greater landscape diversity

Creation of diverse wildlife habitat
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

43

As previously described, the potential income from sale of carbon credits from 

interior villages would be roughly $62,000 annually at 2005 market prices. In very 

small villages, the totals would be less than $300 per year. Even in larger communities, these sums represent only a very small percentage of the funds that would be 

necessary to operate and maintain combined heat and power systems of any kind. 

However, in some cases, these sums are enough to tip the balance toward biomass 

fuel conversion. If the value of carbon credits in the United States ever rises to meet 

world standards, perhaps because of future international agreements, the additive 

value of these credits could become a significant part of the cash economy at the 

village scale.

Conclusion

Given the combined drivers of rising fuel prices, ongoing climate change, increasing fire risk, and social pressures favoring fossil fuel independence, many communities may soon consider shifting to alternative fuels. The incentive of earning 

tradable carbon credits has added to potential benefit streams, and the monetary 

gains of participating in carbon markets may increase tenfold or more in the long 

term if the United States eventually implements programs congruent with those 

being used by Kyoto Protocol signatory nations. 

In rural Alaska villages, economic conditions make fossil fuel use unusually 

expensive, and social conditions favor autonomy and local employment. Ecological 

conditions are likely to allow for harvesting a sustainable fuel source in a manner 

that enhances rather than detracts from ecological resilience, owing to the complex 

relationship between fire, forest succession, forest resources, fire suppression, and 

human settlements. Biomass fuels are likely to increase the long-term social and 

ecological resilience of village communities to externally-driven changes, including 

fluctuations in fossil fuel prices related to state, national, or international policies; 

variability in Alaska’s economic outlook, which might in turn affect subsidies; and 

changes in fire risk and fire management, driven by climate change and by state and 

federal fire budgets.

For all of these reasons, interior Alaska village communities are in a position 

to be at the forefront in developing biomass fuels programs. Villages selected based 

on our combined ecological and social model would almost certainly reap benefits 

from the transition. In addition, because of the existence of substantial economic 

and political infrastructure at the state and federal levels, Alaska’s rural communities are in a position to serve as pilot projects and leaders in a global movement 

toward rural biomass power.
44

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the following programs and individuals at the University of 

Alaska Fairbanks for their assistance and support:

• The Regional Resilience and Adaptation Program, part of the Integrative 

Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program funded by the 

National Science Foundation

• The Center for Global Change

• The Department of Biology and Wildlife

• Institute of Arctic Biology

• Janice Dawe, Jonathan Rosenberg, and A. David McGuire

English Equivalents

When you know: Multiply by: To find:

Meters (m) 3.28 Feet

Kilometers (km) 0.621 Miles

Hectares (ha) 2.47 Acres

Liters (L) 0.265 Gallons (gal)

Kilograms (kg) 2.205 Pounds

Tonnes (t) 1.102 Tons

Tonnes per hectare (t/ha) 893 Pounds per acre

Square meters per hectare (m2

/ha) 4.37 Square feet per acre

Degrees Celsius (°C) (1.8 × °C) + 32 Degrees Fahrenheit

Kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m3) 0.0624 Pounds per cubic foot

Joules (J) 0.000948 British thermal units (Btu)

Kilowatts (kW) 1.34 Horsepower

Kilowatt-hours (kWh) 3412 British thermal units

Kilowatt-hours per tonne (kWh/t) 0.645 British thermal units

 per pound
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

45

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Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

51

Appendix

Alaska communities

 Average Median

 Total number in household Population

Community Access Populationa Electric utilitya householdsa household incomea 16 and over

 Dollars

Alatna and Allakaket Koyukuk 122 Alaska Power Company 53 2.30 n/a 89

Aniak Kuskokwim 532 Aniak Light & Power 174 3.29 41,875 398

 Company

Anvik Yukon 101 AVEC 39 2.67 21,250 69

Beaver Yukon 67 Beaver Joint Utilities 31 2.71 28,750 86

Evansville and Bettles Koyukuk 51 Alaska Power Company 28 1.82 n/a 66

Central Minor Road 102 Central Electric, Inc. 67 2.00 36,875 113

Chuathbaluk Kuskokwim 105 Middle Kuskokwim 33 3.61 34,286 90

 Electric Cooperative

Circle Minor Road 99 Circle Electric Utility 34 2.94 11,667 50

Crooked Creek Kuskokwim 147 Middle Kuskokwim 38 3.61 17,500 90 Electric Cooperative

Dot Lake Major Road 29 Alaska Power Company 10 1.90 13,750 18

Eagle and Minor Road 183 Alaska Power Company 90 2.03 n/a 140

Eagle Village

Fort Yukon Yukon 594 Gwitchyaa Zhee Utilities 225 2.62 29,375 449

Galena Yukon 717 City of Galena 216 2.83 61,125 495

Grayling Yukon 182 AVEC 51 3.80 21,875 105

Healy Lake Minor River 34 Alaska Power Company 13 2.85 51,250 43

Holy Cross Yukon 206 AVEC 64 3.55 21,875 165

Hughes Koyukuk 72 Hughes Power & Light 26 3.00 24,375 50

Huslia Koyukuk 269 AVEC 88 3.33 27,000 188

Kaltag Yukon 211 AVEC 69 3.33 29,167 159

Koyukuk Yukon 109 City of Koyukuk 39 2.59 19,375 68

Lime Village Minor river 34 Lime Village Power System 19 1.79 n/a n/a

Manley Hot Springs Road 73 Manley Utility Company, Inc. 36 2.00 29,000 60

McGrath Kuskokwim 367 McGrath Light & Power 145 2.77 43,056 286

Minto Minor Road 207 AVEC 74 3.49 21,250 179

Nikolai Minor River 121 Nikolai Light & Power Utility 40 2.50 15,000 60

Northway and Major Road 195 Alaska Power Company 62 3.15 n/a 159

Northway Village

Nulato Yukon 320 AVEC 91 3.69 25,114 213

Red Devil Kuskokwim 35 Middle Kuskokwim 17 2.82 10,938 29

 Electric Cooperative

Ruby Yukon 190 City of Ruby 68 2.76 24,375 119

Shageluk Minor River 132 AVEC 36 3.58 26,667 76

Sleetmute Kuskokwim 78 Middle Kuskokwim 33 3.03 15,000 52

 Electric Cooperative

Stony River Kuskokwim 54 Middle Kuskokwim 19 3.21 20,714 49

 Electric Cooperative

Takotna Kuskokwim 47 Takotna Community 19 2.63 14,583 29

 Association Utilities

Tanana Yukon 304 Tanana Power Company 121 2.55 29,750 210

Tetlin Minor Road 129 Alaska Power Company 42 2.79 12,250 70

Tok Major Road 1,439 Alaska Power Company 534 2.61 37,941 995

n/a = not available, AVEC = Alaska Village Electrical Cooperative.

a Data from ADCED 2005.
52

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Alaska community fuel use and power generation

Average price Power Average load/

Fuel use of diesel Fuel Installed generated Average installed

Community Unemployeda (FY2004)b fuel (2004)b costs capacityc (2004)b load capacity

Gallons Dollars/gallon Dollars kW kWh kW

Alatna and Allakaket 20 53,773 2.19 117,763 430 648,861 74 0.17

Aniak 35 192,576 1.32 254,200 2,865 2,468,700 282 0.10

Anvik 11 38,474 1.32 50,786 337 469,023 54 0.16

Beaver 12 31,436 1.92 60,357 137 293,400 33 0.24

Evansville and Bettles n/a 58,368 1.41 82,299 650 703,820 80 0.12

Central 8 50,104 1.22 61,127 640 501,896 57 0.09

Chuathbaluk 3 20,200 1.70 34,340 n/a 213,737 24 n/a

Circle 6 34,750 1.24 43,090 200 372,000 42 0.21

Crooked Creek 21 25,258 1.69 42,686 n/a 254,434 29 n/a

Dot Lake 2 n/a n/a n/a 325 n/a n/a n/a

Eagle and 25 58,474 1.20 70,169 477 781,344 89 0.19

Eagle Village

Fort Yukon 52 207,698 1.66 344,779 2,400 2,840,000 324 0.14

Galena 32 724,076 1.46 1,057,151 6,000 9,466,799 1,081 0.18

Grayling 13 46,352 1.52 70,455 546 588,761 67 0.12

Healy Lake 5 14,339 1.25 17,924 105 152,986 17 0.17

Holy Cross 22 54,340 1.51 82,053 585 708,012 81 0.14

Hughes 3 37,325 3.27 122,053 323 n/a n/a n/a

Huslia 21 77,648 1.79 138,990 680 916,941 105 0.15

Kaltag 29 57,498 1.58 90,847 573 663,172 76 0.13

Koyukuk 12 20,830 1.89 39,369 244 353,250 40 0.17

Lime Village n/a 9,101 4.44 40,408 77 99,263 11 0.15

Manley Hot Springs 4 26,772 1.14 30,520 480 294,120 34 0.07

McGrath 24 221,650 1.40 310,310 2,685 2,963,200 338 0.13

Minto 29 56,366 1.13 63,694 558 722,562 82 0.15

Nikolai 11 38,182 1.81 69,109 362 401,400 46 0.13

Northway and 19 121,569 1.29 156,824 1,165 1,583,944 181 0.16

Northway Village

Nulato 52 85,982 1.59 136,711 897 1,148,831 131 0.15

Red Devil 4 14,490 1.83 26,517 173 126,434 14 0.08

Ruby 17 24,861 1.76 43,755 654 n/a n/a n/a

Shageluk 17 31,506 1.69 53,245 370 405,639 46 0.13

Sleetmute 8 25,314 1.69 42,781 208 229,258 26 0.13

Stony River 8 13,994 1.69 23,650 139 116,418 13 0.10

Takotna 0 28,219 1.72 48,537 297 248,705 28 0.10

Tanana 31 104,270 1.34 139,722 1,456 1,378,060 157 0.11

Tetlin 15 40,782 1.46 59,542 280 473,310 54 0.19

Tok 111 861,311 1.25 1,076,639 4,960 12,518,973 1,429 0.29

n/a = not available.

a Data from ADCED 2005.

b Data from AEA 2004; nonfuel expenses for Alaska Village Electrical Cooperative (AVEC) villages are calculated at the 

average rate for the cooperative.

c Data from UAA 2003.
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

53

Alaska community power costs

Total nonfuel PCE Residential Residential

Power expenses payments rate without rate after Real cost

Community per capita (2004)a (2004)a PCEa subsidya of power Real cost

kWh Dollars Dollars Dollars per kWh Dollars per kWh Dollars Dollars per kWh

Alatna and Allakaket 5319 83,371 84,787 0.48 0.27 201,134 0.31

Aniak 4640 735,336 168,391 0.49 0.32 989,536 0.40

Anvik 4644 117,256 47,007 0.46 0.28 168,041 0.36

Beaver 4379 n/a 17,620 0.42 0.26 n/a n/a

Evansville and Bettles 13 800 74,967 34,316 0.41 0.20 157,266 0.22

Central 4921 148,543 63,922 0.51 0.28 209,670 0.42

Chuathbaluk 2036 69,482 37,319 0.56 0.32 103,822 0.49

Circle 3758 86,608 37,593 0.50 0.27 129,698 0.35

Crooked Creek 1731 68,424 44,743 0.56 0.32 111,110 0.44

Dot Lake n/a 15,551 9,751 0.23 0.17 n/a n/a

Eagle and Eagle Village 4270 128,692 65,932 0.41 0.26 198,861 0.25

Fort Yukon 4781 362,638 142,391 0.34 0.23 707,417 0.25

Galena 13 203 n/a 124,170 0.25 0.18 n/a n/a

Grayling 3235 147,190 69,919 0.44 0.28 217,645 0.37

Healy Lake 4500 43,540 13,490 0.40 0.24 61,464 0.40

Holy Cross 3437 177,003 83,911 0.42 0.27 259,056 0.37

Hughes n/a 38,238 27,077 0.51 0.30 160,291 n/a

Huslia 3409 229,235 105,966 0.46 0.28 368,225 0.40

Kaltag 3143 165,793 70,921 0.46 0.28 256,640 0.39

Koyukuk 3241 18,747 12,804 0.45 0.36 58,116 0.16

Lime Village 2920 62,517 11,556 0.80 0.56 102,925 1.04

Manley Hot Springs 4029 103,826 34,735 0.60 0.36 134,346 0.46

McGrath 8074 561,359 162,757 0.43 0.29 871,669 0.29

Minto 3491 180,641 77,094 0.40 0.26 244,334 0.34

Nikolai 3317 42,004 47,474 0.50 0.34 111,113 0.28

Northway and 8123 88,293 85,818 0.43 0.25 245,117 0.15

Northway Village

Nulato 3590 287,208 138,928 0.44 0.28 423,919 0.37

Red Devil 3612 68,461 16,839 0.56 0.32 94,978 0.75

Ruby n/a 15,999 19,635 0.46 0.33 59,754 n/a

Shageluk 3073 101,410 42,971 0.46 0.28 154,655 0.38

Sleetmute 2939 69,424 41,057 0.56 0.32 112,205 0.49

Stony River 2156 69,067 16,594 0.56 0.32 92,717 0.80

Takotna 5292 33,897 20,849 0.48 0.32 82,434 0.33

Tanana 4533 326,127 109,284 0.49 0.31 465,849 0.34

Tetlin 3669 36,882 48,354 0.47 0.27 96,424 0.20

Tok 8700 671,543 212,194 0.23 0.17 1,748,182 0.14

Note: PCE = Power Cost Equalization program; n/a = not available.

a Data from AEA 2004; nonfuel expenses for Alaska Village Electrical Cooperative (AVEC) villages are calculated at the 

average rate for the cooperative.
54

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

Alaska community power cost per household and biomass system cost

Estimated installed cost of biomass system ($1,849/kw)

Real cost Real cost of power per To meet To replace 100 

of power household as percentage of 50 percent To meet percent of existing

per household median household income of mean load mean load generation capacity

Dollars Percent - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dollars - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Alatna and Allakaket n/a n/a 68,479 136,957 795,070

Aniak 6,120 14.6 260,538 521,076 5,297,385

Anvik 4,442 20.9 49,499 98,998 623,113

Beaver n/a n/a 30,964 61,929 253,313

Evansville and Bettles n/a n/a 74,279 148,557 1,201,850

Central 4,111 11.1 52,968 105,937 1,183,360

Chuathbaluk 3,569 10.4 22,557 45,114 n/a

Circle 3,852 33.0 39,260 78,519 369,800

Crooked Creek 2,729 15.6 26,852 53,704 n/a

Dot Lake n/a n/a n/a n/a 600,925

Eagle and Eagle Village n/a n/a 82,460 164,921 881,973

Fort Yukon 3,120 10.6 299,724 599,447 4,437,600

Galena n/a n/a 999,093 1,998,186 11,094,000

Grayling 4,544 20.8 62,136 124,272 1,009,554

Healy Lake 5,152 10.1 16,146 32,291 194,145

Holy Cross 4,464 20.4 74,721 149,442 1,081,665

Hughes 6,679 27.4 n/a n/a 597,227

Huslia 4,558 16.9 96,771 193,542 1,257,320

Kaltag 4,050 13.9 69,989 139,978 1,059,477

Koyukuk 1,381 7.1 37,281 74,562 451,156

Lime Village n/a n/a 10,476 20,952 142,373

Manley Hot Springs 3,681 12.7 31,040 62,081 887,520

McGrath 6,579 15.3 312,726 625,452 4,964,565

Minto 4,119 19.4 76,257 152,513 1,031,742

Nikolai 2,296 15.3 42,362 84,725 669,338

Northway and n/a n/a 167,164 334,328 2,154,085

Northway Village

Nulato 4,888 19.5 121,244 242,487 1,658,553

Red Devil 7,652 70.0 13,343 26,687 319,877

Ruby 868 3.6 n/a n/a 1,209,246

Shageluk 4,194 15.7 42,810 85,619 684,130

Sleetmute 4,359 29.1 24,195 48,390 384,592

Stony River 5,512 26.6 12,286 24,573 257,011

Takotna 4,613 31.6 26,247 52,495 549,153

Tanana 3,908 13.1 145,436 290,871 2,692,144

Tetlin 2,085 17.0 49,951 99,903 517,720

Tok 3,171 8.4 1,321,209 2,642,418 9,171,040

n/a = not available.
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

55

Alaska community power system annual costs

Annual operating cost 

of biomass system Annual diesel Annual nonfuel

($0.17/kWh) fuel cost offset cost offset Estimated annual

 savings (compared Per capita

50 percent 50 percent 50 percent to real cost of annual

of mean Mean of mean Mean of mean Mean diesel system), savings,

Community load load load load load load mean load mean load

Dollars

Alatna and Allakaket 44,123 66,184 47,105 70,658 8,337 20,843 25,317 208

Aniak 167,872 251,807 101,680 152,520 73,534 183,834 84,547 159

Anvik 31,894 47,840 20,314 30,471 11,726 29,314 11,945 118

Beaver 19,951 29,927 24,143 36,214 n/a n/a n/a n/a

Evansville and Bettles 47,860 71,790 32,920 49,379 7,497 18,742 -3,669 -72

Central 34,129 51,193 24,451 36,676 14,854 37,136 22,618 222

Chuathbaluk 14,534 21,801 13,736 20,604 6,948 17,371 16,173 154

Circle 25,296 37,944 17,236 25,854 8,661 21,652 9,562 97

Crooked Creek 17,302 25,952 17,074 25,612 6,842 17,106 16,765 114

Dot Lake n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,555 3,888 n/a n/a

Eagle and 53,131 79,697 28,068 42,101 12,869 32,173 -5,423 -30

Eagle Village

Fort Yukon 193,120 289,680 137,911 206,867 36,264 90,660 7,847 13

Galena 643,742 965,613 422,860 634,291 n/a n/a n/a n/a

Grayling 40,036 60,054 28,182 42,273 14,719 36,798 19,017 104

Healy Lake 10,403 15,605 7,170 10,754 4,354 10,885 6,035 177

Holy Cross 48,145 72,217 32,821 49,232 17,700 44,251 21,266 103

Hughes n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,824 9,560 n/a n/a

Huslia 62,352 93,528 55,596 83,394 22,924 57,309 47,175 175

Kaltag 45,096 67,644 36,339 54,508 16,579 41,448 28,313 134

Koyukuk 24,021 36,032 15,747 23,621 1,875 4,687 -7,724 -71

Lime Village 6,750 10,125 16,163 24,245 6,252 15,629 29,749 875

Manley Hot Springs 20,000 30,000 12,208 18,312 10,383 25,957 14,268 195

McGrath 201,498 302,246 124,124 186,186 56,136 140,340 24,279 66

Minto 49,134 73,701 25,477 38,216 18,064 45,160 9,675 47

Nikolai 27,295 40,943 27,644 41,466 4,200 10,501 11,024 91

Northway and 107,708 161,562 62,730 94,094 8,829 22,073 -45,395 -233

Northway Village

Nulato 78,121 117,181 54,685 82,027 28,721 71,802 36,648 115

Red Devil 8,598 12,896 10,607 15,910 6,846 17,115 20,129 575

Ruby n/a n/a n/a n/a 1,600 4,000 n/a n/a

Shageluk 27,583 41,375 21,298 31,947 10,141 25,352 15,924 121

Sleetmute 15,590 23,384 17,112 25,668 6,942 17,356 19,640 252

Stony River 7,916 11,875 9,460 14,190 6,907 17,267 19,582 363

Takotna 16,912 25,368 19,415 29,122 3,390 8,474 12,228 260

Tanana 93,708 140,562 55,889 83,833 32,613 81,532 24,803 82

Tetlin 32,185 48,278 23,817 35,725 3,688 9,221 -3,332 -26

Tok 851,290 1,276,935 430,656 645,983 67,154 167,886 -463,066 -322

n/a = not available.
56

RESEARCH PAPER PNW-RP-579 

 Alaska community years to break even on capital investment

Potential annual

Years to Estimated Years to

carbon credits

pay back annual savings pay back 

capital Years to Years to compared capital Years to Years to

(mean pay back pay back to real costs (1⁄2 mean pay back pay back 

load, no capital capital of diesel load, no capital capital

carbon (mean load, (mean load, system, 1⁄2 carbon (1⁄2 mean (1⁄2 mean CCX ECX

Community credits) CCX) ECX) mean load credits) load, CCX) load, ECX) prices prices

- - - - - - - - - Years - - - - - - - - Dollars - - - - - - - - - Years - - - - - - - - - Dollars

Alatna and Allakaket 5.4 5.3 4.3 11,320 6.0 5.9 4.4 860 10,862

Aniak 6.2 6.0 4.8 7,342 35.5 30.4 11.4 3,081 38,900

Anvik 8.3 8.0 6.0 146 338.4 126.1 15.2 616 7,772

Beaver n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 503 6,350

Evansville and -40.5 -47.8 43.6 -7,444 -10.0 -10.5 -27.2 934 11,790

Bettles

Central 4.7 4.6 3.7 5,176 10.2 9.6 5.7 802 10,121

Chuathbaluk 2.8 2.8 2.4 6,150 3.7 3.6 2.9 323 4,080

Circle 8.2 7.9 5.7 601 65.3 47.7 11.5 556 7,020

Crooked Creek 3.2 3.2 2.7 6,615 4.1 4.0 3.1 404 5,102

Dot Lake n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a

Eagle and -30.4 -33.9 99.1 -12,195 -6.8 -7.0 -11.0 936 11,812

Eagle Village

Fort Yukon 76.4 60.9 18.2 -18,945 -15.8 -17.0 -138.6 3,323 41,955

Galena n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 11,585 146,263

Grayling 6.5 6.4 5.0 2,865 21.7 19.7 9.4 742 9,363

Healy Lake 5.4 5.2 4.2 1,120 14.4 13.3 7.1 229 2,896

Holy Cross 7.0 6.9 5.4 2,377 31.4 27.4 11.0 869 10,977

Hughes n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 597 7,540

Huslia 4.1 4.0 3.4 16,168 6.0 5.8 4.3 1,242 15,685

Kaltag 4.9 4.8 4.0 7,822 8.9 8.5 5.6 920 11,615

Koyukuk -9.7 -9.9 -14.3 -6,399 -5.8 -6.0 -7.9 333 4,208

Lime Village 0.7 0.7 0.7 15,665 0.7 0.7 0.6 146 1,838

Manley Hot Springs 4.4 4.3 3.5 2,590 12.0 11.2 6.5 428 5,408

McGrath 25.8 23.7 12.2 -21,238 -14.7 -15.8 -94.0 3,546 44,773

Minto 15.8 14.9 9.2 -5,593 -13.6 -14.6 -73.4 902 11,386

Nikolai 7.7 7.4 5.4 4,549 9.3 8.8 5.5 611 7,713

Northway and -7.4 -7.6 -10.9 -36,149 -4.6 -4.7 -6.3 1,945 24,557

Northway Village

Nulato 6.6 6.5 5.2 5,285 22.9 20.8 9.9 1,376 17,368

Red Devil 1.3 1.3 1.2 8,855 1.5 1.5 1.3 232 2,927

Ruby n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 398 5,022

Shageluk 5.4 5.3 4.3 3,856 11.1 10.6 6.7 504 6,364

Sleetmute 2.5 2.4 2.1 8,465 2.9 2.8 2.3 405 5,113

Stony River 1.3 1.2 1.2 8,450 1.5 1.4 1.3 224 2,827

Takotna 4.3 4.2 3.4 5,892 4.5 4.3 3.2 452 5,700

Tanana 11.7 11.3 7.8 -5,207 -27.9 -32.0 45.2 1,668 21,063

Tetlin -30.0 -34.0 62.0 -4,680 -10.7 -11.3 -36.1 653 8,238

Tok -5.7 -5.8 -7.4 -353,480 -3.7 -3.8 -4.7 13,781 173,985

Note: CCX = Chicago Climate Exchange, ECX = European Climate Exchange, n/a = not available. Negative years for payback indicate 

that payback will never occur; in such cases the transition to biomass fuels would not be profitable.
Assessing the Potential for Conversion to Biomass Fuels in Interior Alaska

Pacific Northwest Research Station

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