In 2016 through 2018, recognizing the State’s fiscal challenges and limited potential for new REF funding, Alaska Energy Authority (AEA), in consultation with the Renewable Energy Fund Advisory Committee (REFAC), made the decision to not release a solicitation for new applications for what would have been Rounds X, XI and XII. Instead, the list of projects that was evaluated and recommended for funding after the 2015 solicitation was put forward initially in January 2016 and then again in 2017 and 2018 for legislative consideration.

Eight of the projects from the 2016 recommendations list received a total of $11 million in FY19. The 2016 list of recommendations is now more than three years old. Moving forward, AEA will solicit new applications every other year so the REFAC and AEA can provide the legislature with an up-to-date list of well-vetted projects to recommend for future funding.

AEA, in collaboration with the REFAC, made the decision to solicit for new applications every two years rather than annually. This decision was based on a desire to balance the value of a well-vetted list of renewable energy projects in Alaska with a need to reduce the burden on communities that comes with soliciting complex applications when there is so much uncertainty around funding availability. AEA expects to solicit applications in 2020 to deliver a recommendation to the legislature in January 2021.