WWU Geologist Pete Stelling, along with research help from recent WWU graduate Alec Sandberg, has been working over the past summer in conjunction with AK Geothermal via a grant from the City of Akutan and the State of Alaska to investigate the geothermal potential of the island, specifically focused on the area known as Hot Springs Bay Valley.

 

Since May, Stelling has conducted a geochemical survey of the valley; used satellite imagery to detect thermal anomalies on the valley’s floor; and conducted a geophysical investigation of the valley’s bedrock, to get an idea of just how hot these underlying layers of rock might be.

 

If this resource can be developed – and Stelling said early indications are quite favorable –  the City of Akutan and adjacent Trident Seafoods facility would be able receive inexpensive electricity and steam heating.  This electricity would potentially allow the town’s 700 residents and Trident to reduce to a fraction the amount of diesel fuel it would need to import each year, and substitute that oil for a clean, renewable energy source.  The steam would be used to heat homes and buildings in the town and at the Trident facility, and just as importantly, allow steam-heated greenhouses to be developed so residents could potentially grow fresh vegetables for sale year-round throughout the Aleutian Islands.

 

“The next step will be to drill some test wells next summer,” said Stelling. “If the test wells indicate the heat reservoir is large enough to support the needs of the community, production wells would be the next step. It could be a huge, huge change for this island.”

 

For more information on Stelling’s research on Akutan, contact him at (360) 650-4095.