Alaska city and electric utility to build battery system

BETHEL, Alaska – An Alaska community is partnering with an electric utility to build a battery storage system to be utilized during power outages.

Alaska’s Energy Desk reported Tuesday that the project involving Kwethluk and the Nuvista Light and Electric Cooperative could help end the small city’s reliance on diesel fuel.

Officials say Kwethluk and the electric co-operative received $477,050 from the U.S. Department of Energy to build a 675 kilowatt-hour, lithium-ion battery.

Officials say Kwethluk was required to match 50% of the funds.

Officials say a battery of that size could light every home for an hour during peak demand or maintain critical buildings for more than two hours.

Kwethluk is a largely Yupik community with more than 700 residents who live a subsistence lifestyle east of Bethel on the Kwethluk River.

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Information from: KYUK-AM, http://www.kyuk.org