After decades of false starts, geothermal power may be coming to Unalaska.
The Ounalashka Corporation and Fairbanks-based Chena Power, LLC have formed a company to develop a geothermal project at Makushin Volcano.
With city backing, Ounalashka/Chena Power is pursuing a U.S. Department of Energy loan worth $350-500 million.
Salts said that funding would allow the project to move forward at no expense or risk to the city. He also said the company will use existing research performed at Makushin over the last 60 years, meaning further feasibility investigations aren’t necessary.
A test well drilled in the 1980s revealed a hot-water reservoir that could generate at least 12 megawatts of electricity, or enough to heat around 10,000 homes.