Kootznoowoo, Inc. recently received notification from the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) that it has been awarded a nearly $6M grant from the Office of Indian Economic Development Tribal Electrification Program (TEP). The program was established under the Biden Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and the Justice50 initiative. TEP received over $145M to distribute in grants in order to increase the number of tribal homes with zero emission electricity.
“This grant now brings the Thayer Hydroelectric Project to being fully funding,” says Interim President & CEO Keith Greene. “This milestone is a huge win for the project and for the people of Angoon who experience incredibly high energy costs due to the community’s dependence on diesel generated power.”
Kootznoowoo, Inc. is the first Alaska Native Corporation to negotiate a compact agreement with the BIA—a step necessary to receive the TEP planning grant award.
The overall run-of-the river project cost is estimated to be $33,650,000. Once completed, Thayer Hydroelectric, will produce 850 kilowatts of power, which is approximately three times Angoon’s current energy needs. The existing diesel power plant will serve as an emergency backup system. This will displace approximately 120,000 gallons of diesel fuel for electrical generation and has the potential to displace an additional 130,000 gallons of heating fuel annually, thus saving approximately $1M annually in energy costs.
In addition to the TEP grant, other project funders include the State of Alaska’s Alaska Energy Authority, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Development, and the Denali Commission.
The Thayer Hydroelectric project supports federal climate change objectives by avoiding the release of 2,800 tons of CO2 annually.
