Unalaska, AK – The Alaska Energy Authority is giving the City of Unalaska a $1.3 million grant to buy and install a waste heat recovery unit at the power house. The machine converts the heat put off by the diesel-powered generators into electricity. Utilities Director Dan Winters explains that water circulates around the generators to keep them cool and absorbs the extra heat. The hot water is then used to expand a refrigerant which creates pressure to turn a small turbine. Without the unit, the heat is lost into the environment.

"It's free electricity," Winters quipped.

More or less. Buying and installing the unit will cost about $1 million, but it should pay for itself within four years. The rest of the money from the grant and from the city's $600,000 required contribution will go toward buying another unit. Each unit saves the power plant 100 thousand gallons of diesel each year.