Energy

Infrastructure projects across the country are in limbo after the Trump administration placed a sweeping 90-day hold on federal grant and loan programs. For the Northwest Arctic, this jeopardizes millions of dollars for previously funded energy projects and could further delay them for at least a year.

For the first time, however, researchers in two northern Alaska communities want to study how electric vehicles, including electric snowmachines, could be incorporated into their isolated power grids.

Several Alaska energy researchers will be featured during a national U.S. Arctic Research Commission conference this week.

The 576-kilowatt project in Kotzebue is the second largest in the state, next to the Willow Solar Farm in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

It will be the largest solar project in rural Alaska, and second statewide to the 1.2 megawatt solar farm in Willow.

Dominique Pride is an investigator with ACEP. She says there's no concrete data on fuel oil usage in the state, only estimates.