The turbines were up and running Dec. 31. A formal ribbon cutting ceremony is to be held Jan. 29.

The wind farm was designed and built by Canadian firm Entegrity Wind Systems Inc.

Power generated by the $5.5 million, 18-turbine wind farm is being sold to Nome Joint Utilities under a temporary power purchase agreement.

“We will sell it to them at below their cost to create a kilowatt,” Foster said. “It will be up to them to decide how much of the savings to pass on to consumers.”

Nome Joint Utilities also has plans for a big wind farm, one that will generate up to 3 megawatts, depending on wind conditions.

The utility’s electrical grid is powered by diesel fuel, which costs commercial customers 38 cents per kilowatt-hour. Nome Joint Utilities has yet to determine how purchasing power from Banner Wind LLC will affect consumer rates.

Jerald Brown, vice president of Bering Straits Native Corp., said that Banner Wind sees the project as a way to benefit the community of Nome while returning the capital investment to the partners.

“It should have an immediate downward impact on the cost to the utility to produce fuel and a leveling effect on the future cost as well, because the price of wind does not fluctuate,” he said.

Nome businesses currently pay a commercial rate of 38 cents per kilowatt-hour. The residential rate is somewhat tempered by power cost equalization, a state subsidy program that helps rural communities provide lower-cost power.

The wind power project, which also includes $600,000 to $800,000 for Nome Joint Utilities to run a joint extension line to the utility’s grid, is being financed through some $2 million investments of the two Alaska Native firms, a $2 million environmental loan from Wells Fargo Bank and funds to come from the sale of carbon offsets to Bonneville Environmental Foundation, based in Idaho.

Brown said BSNC had previously sold the carbon offsets, also known as green tags, to Bonneville Environmental for a solar panel project at BSNC offices in Nome.

The carbon offsets program allows entities that can’t implement alternative energy on their own to buy carbon offsets, or, in Brown’s words, “share the bragging rights” for reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

“It’s a financing piece that definitely helps out,” he said. “It’s based on a per megawatt hour and worth tens of thousands of dollars per year.”

Banner Wind also found savings in having Anchorage firm STG Inc. do all of the groundwork, foundation, build the road to the project site and lift the turbines into place, Brown said. STG had a large crane on site for work at the Rock Creek Mine, thereby saving Banner Wind the considerable cost of transporting another crane to Nome.

Banner Wind is also applying for grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state of Alaska to help cover the investment of the two Alaska Native firms and help pay back project costs, Brown said.

So far the wind farm has been well received by Nome residents.

Brown said residents excited about the project have stopped him on the streets of Nome to ask for more information about solar panels, as well. For the first nine months after installation, 96 solar panels, measuring about 2.5 feet by 5 feet each, have saved BSNC about $5,500 in energy costs, he said. The project cost $200,000.

“We are looking at about $7,000 to $7,500 a year in savings. It’s still about a 10-year payback after all the tax credits and depreciation,” he said.

The wind turbines, designed for cold weather and year-round operation, are similar to Kotzebue Electric Association’s 17-turbine wind farm. Kotzebue’s experience with similar turbine models has resulted in a savings of 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year, which at last year’s prices amounted to $250,000, and this year’s cost savings are expected to be well above $300,000.