Kasigluk Nunap projects - Alaska Village Electric Cooperative

Nunapitchuk/
Kasigluk/
Akula Heights
Projects
by Amy Murphy
Residents of Nunapitchuk, Kasigluk
and Akula Heights are starting
to reap the benefits of a group of
large, complex projects constructed
in their communities over the past
couple of years. The Denali Commission
and Rural Utilities Service
provided funding for these projects
to increase power generating efficiency
and reliability and help reduce
the cost of generating power.
The new, automated, modular-style power plant at Akula Heights.
The projects included upgrading
existing bulk fuel systems, providing
wind generation, switching the
backup generator in Akula Heights
to Nunapitchuk and building a new
main power plant in Akula Heights,
using recovered heat from the power
plant for community buildings, and
upgrading the intertie between the
three communities.
An undertaking of this magnitude
involves cooperation between many
individuals and organizations to decide
on issues like site selection, permitting,
project design, obtaining necessary
rights-of-way and developing a
business plan to ensure sustainability.
Other participants in this project are:
Kasigluk, Inc.; Kasigluk Traditional
Story continued on page 8; photos on page 5.
The photos on the
bottom left show
Nunapitchuk’s plant
operator, Golga
Frederick, standing
inside and outside
of the power plant
on the last day
of operation in
Nunapitchuk. The
upper left photo
shows the power
plant module being
moved to Akula
Heights to be placed
and integrated into
the new power plant
(photo upper right).
The photo on
the bottom right
shows the backup
generator being
moved from Kasigluk
to Nunapitchuk to
provide backup power
generation when
needed.
4 AUGUST 2006 ALASKA VILLAGE

The photos on the left show the new, elevated,
bulk fuel tank farm in Akula Heights and some of
the local residents that were trained as welders
and hired to work on the projects. The middle
photo shows the huge tent that provided workers
a warm, sheltered place to fabricate (weld) tanks
and paint components of the different projects.
This enclosed tent allowed work to continue year
round and provided some local jobs. One photo
on the left shows a section of a wind turbine
tower that was painted inside the tent.
The top three photos on the right show some of
the distribution work involved in the projects.
One photo shows a
portion of the new
intertie that was
constructed. Sam
Lindquist (left, on
pole) and another
AVEC lineman
are framing a new
power pole and
below them a crane
is shown driving
piles for anchoring
the new poles. The photo on the bottom right
shows one of the three wind turbines being
erected.
Continued on page 8.
ALASKA VILLAGE AUGUST 2006 5

Nunapitchuk Projects, con’t from pg. 4
Council; the City of Nunapitchuk; and
Lower Kuskokwim School District.
The following firms provided services
for various parts of the project:
STG, Inc. provided overall construction
management; Hattenburg Dilley
& Linnel provided the majority of the
layout and overall project design, particularly
related to civil engineering;
Coffman Engineers designed the wind
turbine foundations; and Dryden &
LaRue and Nana Pacific designed the
intertie upgrades and river crossing.
AVEC’s engineering staff designed
the majority of the Akula Heights
power plant and Nunapitchuk standby
generator module. AVEC’s operations
department completed the majority of
the power plant, standby module and
intertie construction.
Project Summary
Following is a summary of the upgrades
for Nunapitchuk, Akula Heights
and Kasigluk.
Old Kasigluk Upgrades
• Remove from service the school’s
old tank farm.
• Install a new 1000-gallon intermediate
tank at existing school tank farm.
• Take the existing washeteria
tank farm out of service and install a
new double-wall tank near the existing
washeteria site for the Kasigluk
Traditional Council.
Akula Heights Upgrades
• Provide a new co-located tank
farm near the community center with
individual cells for AVEC, the school,
and Kasigluk, Inc.
• Locate a new power plant east
of the proposed tank farm location.
• Install new dispensers for gasoline
and diesel at the river with distribution
piping from the co-located
Kasigluk, Inc. tanks.
• Supply community buildings
with recovered heat from AVEC’s
power plant.
• Provide school with a new intermediate
fuel storage tank.
• Develop the wind generation site
south of the power plant.
Nunapitchuk Upgrades
• Take the existing AVEC power
plant and tank farm out of service.
• Take the teacher housing tank
farm (old school) out of service.
• Install the backup generator from
Kasigluk.
Intertie Upgrades
• Upgrade existing distribution
intertie between Nunapitchuk, Akula
Heights and Old Kasigluk.
Alternative Energy
• Develop wind generation and
access at Akula Heights.
• Install power line extension to
the wind site.
• Provide for recovered heat from
the new AVEC power plant to local
community buildings.
Amalgamated Approach
Since these projects are all interrelated,
AVEC and the other participants
agreed to work on them using
an amalgamated, or consolidated, approach.
This allowed the construction
management team to maximize the
various resources on hand, resulting
in cost savings.
For example, heavy equipment, like
a crane, can be brought in and used on
the different projects, instead of shipping
heavy equipment into and out of
the village for projects constructed at
different times.
A lot of the work involving the use
of heavy equipment and pile driving
for foundations was done during the
winter when the ground was frozen to
minimize impact to the environment.
Local Hire
AVEC and the Denali Commission
support and encourage local
hire for the projects we work on. In
anticipation of needing trained welders,
AVEC’s construction manager,
STG, Inc., provided welding training
for the following Kasigluk residents:
Moses White Jr.; Gerald Dementieff
III; Gabriel Guest; Wilson Twitchell;
Stanley Berlin; Walter Anvil; Patrick
Beaver; and Janelle Maxie.
Each student received at least
one certification in “Butt-Joint Fillet
Welds” and were later hired to work
on the projects. A total of 2,400 manhours
were involved in this particular
program, providing an initial local
payroll in excess of $16,000.
The local payroll amount increased
after that as local residents were hired
to work on various projects over the
past three seasons. The average local
hire rate for the projects (to date) are:
2004 - 64%; 2005 - 16%; and 2006 -
9% Kasigluk and 16% Nunapitchuk.
Thank You!
The projects aren’t fully completed
yet, but AVEC would like to express
sincere appreciation to everybody
involved in this huge undertaking, especially
the personnel working in the
field, the power plant operators and the
residents who had to put up with a lot
of noise, disruption and strangers.
It was a hard decision to select
the new plant site in a different community
as it meant the loss of jobs
for Nunapitchuk’s plant operators.
However, we heard one Nunapitchuk
elder is happy the power plant moved
out of town because now his house is
more peaceful and quiet!
Thanks to continued funding from
the Denali Commission, AVEC is upgrading
our generating facilities, one
community at a time. Quyana.
8 AUGUST 2006 ALASKA VILLAGE