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$1.2 million budgeted for hydro project
The Alaska Legislature included nearly $1.2 million in the state capital budget for a controversial hydroelectric proposal on the Kenai Peninsula north of Seward.
The budget, which the governor is now weighing, designates the money for Kenai Hydro LLC’s Grant Lake project. Kenai Hydro is a Homer Electric Association company.
The project would involve building a dam to raise the level of Grant Lake, a mountain lake just east of the Seward Highway near the Moose Pass community. Water would be withdrawn and sent down a tunnel to a powerhouse to generate 4.5 megawatts.
HEA, which currently buys all its power wholesale from Anchorage-based Chugach Electric Association, has said it wants to develop its own generation capacity and sees Grant Lake as a small part of its supply mix.
FERC update In a March 31 update to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has given the project a preliminary permit, Kenai Hydro said it and Homer Electric hosted a legislative luncheon on Dec. 18 in Kenai to discuss the utility’s generation plans, including the Grant Lake project. Company representatives later met with Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak.
Over the next few months, Kenai Hydro said it plans to continue engineering design and other work.
The Grant Lake project has generated some controversy. Opponents view it as a threat to the Kenai River watershed, which is rich in salmon and trout.
A FERC license would be required to actually build the project, at a cost that could exceed $30 million.
—Wesley Loy
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