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Bill offered to boost huge Alaska dam Gov. Parnell says legislation would advance remote hydroelectric project on Susitna River toward bid for FERC approval Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell has offered legislation to help advance construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Susitna River.
Parnell unveiled the bill on Jan. 14, four days ahead of the start of the 2011 legislative session.
The idea of a large hydro project on the Susitna has knocked around for decades, but it has gained renewed enthusiasm in recent years with tightening Cook Inlet natural gas supplies. Gas is the major fuel for electric power generation along what’s known as the Alaska Railbelt, which stretches from the Kenai Peninsula north to Anchorage and Fairbanks.
“A Susitna Dam hydroelectric project will not only provide an important supply of energy for Alaskan homes and businesses, it will create jobs for Alaskans,” Parnell said in a press release.
Parnell also noted that Alaska energy policy calls for producing half of the state’s electric power generation through renewable resources by 2025.
“To achieve this goal, we must move aggressively and invest now to develop capacity for a major hydroelectric project on the Susitna River,” the Republican governor wrote in a Jan. 14 letter to House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, and Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak.
Bill provisions Parnell’s bill would authorize a state agency, the Alaska Energy Authority, to build, own and operate new power projects.
It also would create a new Railbelt energy fund, replacing an existing fund. The bill does not specify what amount the Legislature should place in the fund. But according to the text of his Jan. 19 State of the State address to the Legislature, Parnell said: “Let’s work together this year to invest at least $65 million to jump start planning, design, and permitting for the Susitna Hydro Project.”
Parnell’s letter to the legislative leaders said his bill lays important groundwork “to move forward on pursuing” the Susitna dam.
“This legislation allows AEA to continue with environmental and feasibility studies positioning the State to seek preliminary approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a project that will provide half of Southcentral’s electricity demand,” the letter said.
The bill further provides for adoption of regulations to govern the procurement of supplies and services, and increases from three to four the number of AEA board members necessary for a quorum.
$4.5 billion project On Nov. 24, the AEA announced it was recommending the Susitna dam over an alternative hydro project known as Chakachamna, across Cook Inlet from Anchorage.
The Susitna dam would be located roughly midway between Anchorage and Fairbanks. It would sit in a steep-sided valley 184 river miles above the mouth of the Susitna. The area is remote with few if any residents.
Likely constructed as an earthfill embankment, the dam would rise 700 feet and create a reservoir 39 miles long and up to two miles wide. The project would feature installed generation capacity of 600 megawatts.
The AEA estimated its cost at $4.5 billion in 2008 dollars, with the state itself likely to foot half the bill.
With tens of billions of dollars in savings, Alaska certainly could afford to build the dam. But the project has generated considerable controversy in the past, and surely would again.
In terms of scale, however, the Susitna dam and reservoir would not be all that special.
Dozens of monumental hydroelectric dams and reservoirs have been built across the Lower 48 states. Federal agencies including the Army Corps of Engineers, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Tennessee Valley Authority operate the bulk of them.
In terms of timeline, the AEA estimates the Susitna dam would take 11 years to complete.
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