Energy Planning Process

At AEA, we believe that data-driven planning will result in better outcomes for a community. In order to be able to make informed decisions about the future of your community, you need to understand how well your systems are running and where there are opportunities for improvement. To understand a community’s needs and opportunities, it is important to gather and analyze a number of different types of data. Gathering data about the finances, operations, consumption, and performance of the community’s energy systems is needed to make the best decisions.

Resources to help you include:

  • The Alaska Community Energy Profiles are customized “dashboards” that give you access to the most recent public data on your community’s energy generation and usage.
  • The Alaska Energy Data Gateway is a website hosted by UAA’s Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) that stores and supplies much of AEA’s energy data in a searchable database. In particular, users can access data from the Power Cost Equalization and Renewable Energy Fund programs.
  • The annual Alaska Energy Statistics provides statewide data on electricity generation, sales, and prices.
    • 2012
    • 2013
    • 2014 (coming soon!)
    • 2015 (coming soon!)
    • 2016 (coming soon!)
    • 2017 (coming soon!)

Some information that will help communities to evaluate options is not publicly available. Communities and utilities will have to gather information from fuel distributors, power plant operators, and other sources to understand the community’s needs and opportunities adequately.