Under 3 AAC 108.100 – 130 the Alaska Energy Authority’s Rural Power Systems Upgrade (RPSU) program may provide financial assistance and technical assistance including construction management and training to eligible recipients.
Approximately 160 communities are eligible to receive Rural Power System Upgrade (RPSU) grant-funded projects through the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA). AEA evaluates a number of factors in determining project prioritization. The datasets used include:
Each of the factors was quantified and weighted to provide a numerical scoring system. The highest ranked communities are listed below.
Top 25 Communities recommended for RPSU funding (in order of priority) as of June 2019:
Comprehensive project ranking is available here.
Project scale
It is not expected that each of the communities recommended for an RPSU project will get a new powerhouse module; indeed, it is possible that none of the communities will receive a traditional full-scale RPSU project. Instead, an assessment of the system will first be performed to determine what types of upgrades are needed to cost-effectively provide the level of service needed. Projects could range in size from thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the level of technical need determined by an engineering analysis of the energy system.