Hydro Power May Flow Farther in SE

Jun 21 - Alaska Journal of Commerce

There are immense mountains and deep fjords in Southeast Alaska, and it rains a lot. Steep mountain valleys and highelevation lakes in the region are ideal sites for generation of clean and renewable hydroelectric power.

Power has been generated from hydroelectric power sites in Southeast for more than 100 years, and today five of the larger Southeast communities - Juneau, Petersburg, Wrangell, Sitka and Ketchikan - have access to hydroelectric power and enjoy some of the cheapest electric rates in the state.

But in smaller outlying communities, villages like Hoonah and Kake, power is still generated with diesel generators. With oil prices at record highs, the cost of power in these places is going through the roof.

An ambitious $316 million plan now is being put forth to connect most Southeast communities into a regional power grid so the benefits of less expensive hydroelectric power can be shared.

Dave Carlson, coordinator of the project for its sponsor, the Southeast Conference, said the plan took another step forward May 10, when communities in the region agreed to form a power generation and transmission cooperative.

Construction should begin this summer on the first increment of the grid, Carlson said. This is a five-mile overhead transmission line on northern Admiralty Island that will eventually connect the Greens Creek Mine on the island to Juneau and its source of hydroelectric power at Snettisham, south of the capital city.

The Denali Commission, a federal-state coordinating agency, recently released funds for the five-mile transmission line. Eventually that transmission line will be extended to Hoonah, on northern Chichagof Island, Carlson said.

The Southeast Intertie Project has been in the works since 1997, when the conference formed a working group to push for a regional power grid. The Southeast Conference is the regional economic development association. The project is needed because without affordable power, industrial or commercial projects like fish processing plants may not be feasible in many small outlying communities in the region, Carlson said.

In Juneau, residential electric rates are 10 cents per kilowatt hour - some of the lowest in the state - thanks to access to hydro power. But in Hoonah, even before the recent hike in oil prices, electric rates from diesel generators were above 30 cents per kilowatt hour. With the state Power Cost Equalization subsidy, those rates drop to 20 cents, still twice the amount paid in Juneau. In Gustavus, in northern Southeast, local power costs are more than 50 cents per kilowatt hour.

The regional intertie has had the support of federal agencies for several years, Carlson said. Last year the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development agency contributed $100,000 to fund engineering and economic analyses for the project.

The federal agency has just announced another $50,000 grant to fund the formation of the cooperative, Carlson said. The cooperative will be formed by this summer, he said, creating a formal entity to own and develop the project.

A substantial amount of work has been done on the interties. Acres International was retained in 1997 to perform a technical feasibility study of an intertie system connecting communities in the region, and in 2003 the Southeast Conference Intertie Committee hired D. Hittle & Associates to do an engineering and economic analysis, The study has now been completed.

The study recommended a phased project that would first connect Juneau, now served by the Snettisham hydroelectric project, to the Greens Creek Mine on northern Admiralty Island and eventually the small community of Hoonah, on Chichagof Island west of Admiralty. The cost for this is estimated at $41 million.

The project would allow Hoonah and Greens Creek Mining Co. to put their diesel-fueled generators on stand-by and receive hydroelectric power via Juneau from Snettisham.

Greens Creek Mine now burns 5 million gallons of diesel fuel a year to generate power for mining operations. Some 400,000 gallons of diesel fuel are used annually in Hoonah to supply power and heat to 860 residents in 435 homes, according to information published in the Alaska Energy Policy Task Force's final report.

In a separate $23 million project, the village of Kake would be connected to Petersburg, which is already connected with nearby Wrangell. Wrangell and Petersburg are now served by the Lake Tyee hydroelectric project.

A separate project to connect Lake Tyee with Ketchikan and the Swan Lake hydroelectric plant is being pursued by the Four-Dam Pool Power Agency, a power generation cooperative owned by four coastal municipalities. Lake Tyee

has surplus generation capacity which is needed in Ketchikan where the Swan Lake hydro plant is at capacity.

If this segment is built, an additional $23 million intertie could supply hydro, power to a mining project under exploration on Woewodski Island. This segment offers the potential for an eventual connection with Sitka to the west and could tie in with the planned Juneau-Hoonah intertie in the future.

Carlson said an ideal scenario would be for large industrial electric consumers, such as mines like Greens Creek or the potential mine on Woewodski Island, to help defray the cost of power to adjacent communities.

Future phases of the long-term plan would see Hoonah connected to Gustavus, and Juneau connected with Haines in northern Southeast, Carlson said.

If the entire project is built, it would involve 203 miles of submarine cable and 212 miles of transmission lines built on land, according to information in the Alaska Energy Policy Task Force report.