Project: BBNC Organizational Options for a Tribal Energy Collaborative in the Bristol Bay Region

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Project Description: Bristol Bay Native Corporation (BBNC) is working with Deerstone Consulting and Woven Energy through a BIA Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grant to define organizational options to form a regional energy collaborative to provide better and lower cost centralized services to Tribal communities and electric utilities in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. This team, working in conjunction with a Steering Committee made up of Bristol Bay stakeholders, is working to define obvious opportunities for collaboration, reliability improvements, and/or potential cost savings between utilities in the region and to develop a pilot project with 3-4 electric utilities in the region to demonstrate the benefits of collaboration.

People/Organizations responsible for completing these steps: Bristol Bay Native Corporation, Stakeholder Entities (potentially, BBNA, BBEDC, Lake & Peninsula Borough, Bristol Bay Borough, City of Dillingham), Consultant team, Large Utility Stakeholders (Nushagak Electric Cooperative, Naknek Electric Association, INN Electric Cooperative, AVEC), Electric Utility Participants (To Be Identified)

Cost Estimates:

Costs: Initial TEDC Grant Phase is $99,000. Subsequent funding will be needed for the pilot project and beyond.

Timeline: Initial TEDC Grant Cycle runs until April 2022. Next funding cycle, assuming additional funding is received, will run through 2023. Objective is to make the collaborative entity a permanent, stand-alone entity.

Funding Partners: BBNC, BIA Tribal Energy Development Capacity Grant Program

Evaluation Measures:

• Participating utilities can deliver power to customers less expensively.
• Electricity service improved and/or more reliable.
• Administrative functions of the participating utilities improved, e.g., more reliable collections, PCE reporting improved.
• Workforce development at the participating utility improved, e.g., more jobs retained locally, more training available, better wages provided.
• The physical assets of the utility improved and better maintained.
• Electric utility capacity increases and it is positioned to consider renewable sources of power and to apply for necessary funding.

Key Project Contact: 

Name: Daniel Cheyette

Title: VP Lands & Resources

Organization: Bristol Bay Native Corporation