**Title**: Energy in the North - Eddie Davidson
**Date**: February 12, 2025
**Participants**: Amanda Byrd, Eddie Davidson


00;00;00;12 - 00;00;01;24 [Eddie Davidson] our priority is really, the middle of February to the middle of November, Those are our big production numbers. That's when we're making hundreds of dollars of power a month.

00;00;07;10 - 00;00;14;03 [Amanda Byrd] This week on Energy in the North speak with Eddie Davidson, Vice President for Renewable Energy Systems or RES. When Eddie grew up on an off grid homestead in livengood with his parents, energy came from a generator and kerosene lights. He was intrigued as a boy when his dad installed a small solar panel and batteries, and he soon learned how to install, repair and troubleshoot solar panel systems. Recently, my husband and I were at the RES showroom putting down a deposit on a new solar system for our house. And, I asked Eddie if we were the typical clientele that he serves.

00;00;39;23 - 00;00;44;20 [Eddie Davidson] Congratulations. I know you've talked about going solar for years and years and years, so it's super exciting to be part of that. Yeah, we're excited for you. I would say residential is a big part of our business for sure. There's a blend of residential because of our high cost of power. We pay, you know, three times the national average up here, 草榴社区 in general. And that's just in our Railbelt and a little bit less down in the Anchorage area. And you know, kind of expanding out from there. But much, much, much, much higher the farther north you go. You know, we pay, you know, as an example, we pay $0.25 a kilowatt in Fairbanks. They'll pay $0.60 a kilowatt out in the villages. So even though we have, you know, 30% less solar exposure, we do have higher performances because of the colder weather. The Colder a solar panel is actually the more power it makes. And then we have the sunlight bouncing off the snow. So we get the added benefit of making quite a bit of power in the spring. And then year round again, it's like getting, you know, 15 to 20% on your investment if you're in the stock market, which is, you know, hard to do anywhere.

00;01;34;17 - 00;01;40;14 [Amanda Byrd] So we are going to get the solar panels on our roof. I've also seen people get solar panels on the ground.

00;01;42;25 - 00;01;44;26 [Eddie Davidson] The roof mount is the most common. It's up out of the way. It's higher in elevation generally gain 20 to 30 feet in elevation. It's not blocking your southern view if it's in your yard and you know, they're at a steep angle. So they're at 65 degrees when we set them on your roof. So they're not flush mounted. But what that does is it allows us to capture really the nine months of high production that we get, the three months in the middle of the winter, we're not really doing much even with the fact that we use bifacial panels now. So your panels are going to be bifacial you make power from the front in the back. Even when they're covered with snow, still make some energy. But our priority is really, the middle of February to the middle of November, those are our big production numbers. That's when we're making hundreds of dollars of power a month.

00;02;23;15 - 00;02;33;22 [Amanda Byrd] So we were just talking about you working in remote communities and helping to design and install renewable systems in very remote communities in 草榴社区.

00;02;33;22 - 00;02;46;23 [Eddie Davidson] We've worked in probably 225, 230 communities throughout 草榴社区. And you know, where we pay three and a half dollars per gallon of diesel, they pay $19 a gallon of diesel. So, you know, the impact is incredible. You know, we do design services, we do remote installations, we do commercial projects, you know, megawatt solar farms. BESS systems or battery energy storage systems. So we can actually go diesel off if we're making enough energy and we've got battery storage, so we can go diesel off, turn those generators off, which is huge. And so, you know, really it's a a game changer to be able to go out because having grown up here, I've watched these villages watch these communities evaporate. You know, they're drying up and blowing away because of energy costs. So the technology is there. Let's install it and, you know, when we go out and do a system, I've seen so many people that have, you know, had a company come up from the lower 48, done a job and just left. They've never hired locally, they've never trained locally, So we prioritized that as well. You know, hiring local is making sure that we're leaving, you know, a successful project behind is not just about money. It's definitely about that community. So, know, that's a very exciting part of our business, too.

00;03;38;08 - 00;03;46;25 [Amanda Byrd] Eddie Davidson is a Vice President for Renewable Energy Systems. And I'm Amanda Byrd, chief storyteller for the 草榴社区 Center for Energy and Power at 草榴社区. Find this story and more at uaf.edu/acep.