After a lot of technology and funding help over the years to make Cordova one of the state’s top renewable energy users, Cordova Electric Cooperative (CEC) is sharing that knowledge with communities worldwide.
Overseeing it all is Clay Koplin, CEO of the cooperative and chairman of the Alaska Energy Authority.
“He’s an expert,” said Curtis Thayer, executive director of the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA), of Koplin. “His knowledge has helped AEA achieve our goals… He regularly makes himself available for questions and advice, and not just 8-5, and he openly shares information.”
In early February, Koplin was selected for induction to the 2026 class of the Alaska Innovators Hall of Fame at the University of Alaska. The event was planned in conjunction with the 2026 Juneau Economic Development Council Innovators Summit in Juneau on Feb. 25-26.
Koplin said he sees this as a very exciting time for the AEA and energy in Alaska, “with generational investments in our power systems that will serve for many decades to come.”
One of the communities he’s worked closely with is Seward, where city officials aim to get an old hydroelectric facility that has been dormant for years up and running again.
“Seward has a young, energetic leadership team that has a vision of great things for their community and is working hard to move it forward,” Koplin said.
Seward City Manager Kat Sorensen and her team visited Cordova recently and also gained some insights into the city’s power generation. They met with Koplin, as well as CEC’s generation manager Russ Goss and CFO Emma Merritt to learn about CEC’s operations structures.
Seward officials later ended up inviting Koplin to a community listening session to solicit feedback on the cooperative model. Kodiak Electric Association and Copper Valley Electric Association also participated.
It was when evaluating Seward’s energy supply that Sorensen and her team discovered they had a locally constructed hydroelectric plant that had not been in service for years.
“There was a very compelling opportunity to deliver significant energy to the community while (also) mitigating flood events,” Koplin said. “One of the issues is the gravel and sand that washes down the river, very similar to one of CEC’s projects at Humpback Creek.”
CEC invited Seward officials to come see the Humpback Creek project, which Koplin said similarly “passes significant sticks, leaves, sand and, in floods, large rocks and gravel.”
“Our visit to Cordova and four of their facilities was particularly impactful,” Sorensen said. “We left energized and inspired, with a clearer picture of what a resilient, forward-thinking generation portfolio can look like for a coastal community like ours. One of the big takeaways for our team was the importance of diversifying energy production, both for reliability and long-term cost stability.”
Sorensen credited the Cordova visit as Seward began their new hydro project.
“That conversation directly influenced our decision to restart the Mount Marathon hydro plant, which had been out of service for decades,” she said.
And since then, CEC has continued to pitch in.
“Their willingness to collaborate has helped ensure we’re approaching this work thoughtfully and setting Seward up for long term success,” Sorensen said.
Koplin, who also advises on other Alaska hydro projects, is modest about the effort.
“In general, it is the story of a small, isolated community trying to use every tool in the kit to have reliable, locally-sourced energy,” he said. “That’s energy security.”
He attributes his expertise, in part, to his predecessors in the field.
“As a young engineer at Kodiak and then at Cordova, I had a lot of help from experienced engineers and other utilities around the state and try to assist other communities when I can,” Koplin said. “Seward has their passion and vision so it is much easier to want to help a community that is trying hard to improve their outlook, much like Cordova was 30 years ago.”
While not busy providing Cordova with electric power, Koplin also travels to give presentations on hydropower at national and international conferences, including the World Energy Conference. His travels have taken him to Australia, Greenland, Iceland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Scotland, as well as to countries in Africa and Asia, including India.
In addition to Seward, CEC has assisted other communities over the years.
One of those is Anchorage’s Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project, which aims to boost annual power output to the city by nearly 50% by diverting water from the Dixon Glacier outside of Homer. This estimated $342 million project will provide renewable energy for up to 30,000 homes, Koplin said.
Koplin has consulted on multiple other hydro projects, including Inside Passage electric cooperatives like Old Harbor on Kodiak Island and the Nushagak Electric Cooperative, plus smaller projects around the state for mining companies, Alaska Native corporations, engineering firms and utilities.
Other utilities CEC has worked with include the Matanuska Electric Association and Alaska Electric Light and Power, where officials are currently locating underground faults and best practices for installing underground lines.
The Cordova co-op has also helped utilities with their automation systems with CEC’s System Integrator Trever Kudrna – most recently assisting the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative, as well as Kotzebue Electric Association and others.
CEC also recently completed assisting Kotzebue Electric with diesel plant upgrades.
“These projects have also benefitted CEC tremendously,” Koplin said. “In addition to the good will and collaboration it builds, some of CEC’s best ideas have come from questions or suggestions from those we are assisting, so it is very much a two-way street.”
