{"id":73072,"date":"2017-01-23T11:55:06","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T16:55:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/?p=73072"},"modified":"2017-01-23T11:55:06","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T16:55:06","slug":"contractors-corner-proving-solar-viable-even-darkest-alaskan-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/2017\/01\/contractors-corner-proving-solar-viable-even-darkest-alaskan-communities\/","title":{"rendered":"Contractors Corner: Proving solar is viable in even the darkest Alaskan communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/304126069&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Oxymorons\u2014little giants, harmless pollution, non-stick glue\u2014they just don\u2019t quite make sense. But what about solar power in Alaska?<\/p>\n<p>One young solar installation company headquartered in Anchorage attempts to debunk the \u00a0unfortunate assumption that Alaska and solar don\u2019t make sense. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arcticsolarventures.com\">Arctic Solar Ventures<\/a> happened to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/2016\/12\/new-solar-installation-alaska-still-harvesting-energy-darkest-day-year\/\">commission a 25-kW system<\/a> on winter solstice 2016\u2014the darkest day of the year\u2014to further prove solar energy is viable in Alaska.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_73073\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73073\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-73073\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Arctic-Solar_team1-500x417.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"417\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Arctic-Solar_team1-500x417.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Arctic-Solar_team1.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-73073\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Arctic Solar Ventures team (L-R): CEO and founder Stephen Trimble; vice president Jacqueline Savina; vice president of business development C. Chase Christie<\/p><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt was by chance that the project was commissioned on that day. We just wanted to get it done before the end of the year for the customer and the applicability of the tax credit,\u201d said Stephen Trimble, founder and CEO of Arctic Solar Ventures. \u201cIt was generating power, which was amazing to see on the shortest day of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trimble and Chase Christie, vice president of business development, said there is a bit of a learning curve for Alaskan residents and businesses when it comes to solar in the state. Arctic Solar Ventures often expresses that Alaska and Germany have a similar solar resource, and Germany has some of the biggest solar installation numbers in the world. There\u2019s no reason Alaska can\u2019t catch up.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEducation is a challenging component in any market,\u201d Christie said. \u201cWe have the added component of it not making obvious sense when we\u2019re in the middle of winter and have five and a half hours of daylight. How can solar possibly work?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Alaskan winters may only average a few hours of daylight, the sun is up for 22 hours during the peak of summer. Trimble said solar projects hit a nice production curve in February that lasts through October.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt balances out a lot better than people would typically think,\u201d Trimble said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-73074\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/img_0766_720-221-500x375.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/img_0766_720-221-500x375.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/img_0766_720-221-317x238.jpg 317w, https:\/\/www.solarpowerworldonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/img_0766_720-221.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/>Arctic Solar Ventures has been busy since forming in 2015. The small team of born-and-raised Alaskans use their industry experience (Trimble was involved with energy consulting and Christie worked for a solar installer in San Francisco) to reach the local community and potential customers on a personal level. The company works on a good mix of residential and commercial projects, mostly because of concern for the rising cost of electricity. Alaskan utilities charge 16 to 17 cents per kWh on average. Only Hawaii sees higher prices.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Rates], by a historical measure, are rising about 8 to 9% every year,\u201d Christie said. \u201cOne of the utility companies here in Anchorage has announced their intentions to raise utility rates by 25% this year alone. There is a lot of interest in mitigating those rate increases.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rate increases are bringing more awareness to the benefits of grid-connected solar in Alaskan communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHistorically there has been a cabin, off-grid solar industry in Alaska,\u201d Trimble said. \u201cSolar projects have been going on in Alaska for 40 years, but they\u2019ve been very scattered, because Alaska is huge. That remote distribution didn\u2019t really allow for a lot of mainstream visibility with solar. Bringing solar projects into a higher visibility in the bigger population centers in grid-connected communities, it\u2019s showing it can work at scale.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The good thing for Arctic Solar Ventures is that acceptance of solar can only increase from here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe plan to continue to showcase Alaska as not only a viable but a great place for solar,\u201d Trimble said.\u00a0 \u201cThe biggest thing for us as we go about opening people\u2019s eyes to the viability of solar in Alaska is that we uphold the highest quality standards with our installations, and we really appreciate and nurture the relationships we develop with our customers and supporters.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oxymorons\u2014little giants, harmless pollution, non-stick glue\u2014they just don\u2019t quite make sense. But what about solar power in Alaska? One young solar installation company headquartered in Anchorage attempts to debunk the \u00a0unfortunate assumption that Alaska and solar don\u2019t make sense. Arctic Solar Ventures happened to commission a 25-kW system on winter solstice 2016\u2014the darkest day of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1401,"featured_media":73074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[1720,3004,1713],"tags":[3646],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Contractors Corner: Proving solar is viable in even the darkest Alaskan communities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Oxymorons\u2014little giants, harmless pollution, non-stick glue\u2014they just don\u2019t quite make sense. But what about solar power in Alaska? 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