Susitna-Watana schedule delay requested

The Alaska Energy Authority has requested a 120-day delay in submitting licensing materials for the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In a Jan. 6 letter to FERC, Wayne Dyok, the AEA project manager for Susitna-Watana, said the initial study report, or ISR, for the project is due Feb. 3. AEA is proposing to extend that deadline to June 3, submit a draft ISR Feb. 3 and modify the remaining project schedule to accommodate a 2015 study season.

Because only $10 million for the project was included in Gov. Sean Parnell’s December budget for fiscal year 2015, and $110 million is needed to complete the study plan and prepare a license application in fiscal year 2015, AEA will be moving the majority of 2014 fieldwork to 2015, and will prioritize work from the FERC-approved study plan which “requires a winter study component during early 2014,” Dyok said in the letter. He said the $10 million “demonstrates a continued strong commitment to the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project,” but “is short of the $110 million required to complete the Commission’s approved study plan and prepare its license application during FY 2015.”

In the revised project schedule submitted to FERC, filing of the final license application is moved to December 2016, which puts it in FY 2016.

Dyok said extensive field study work was conducted in calendar year 2013, based on a state commitment of more than $95.2 million, in addition to $77 million appropriated in previous years.

AEA said the Susitna-Watana project is estimated to provide about half of the Railbelt’s electrical demand, with an average 50-year estimated cost of less than 7 cents per kilowatt hour.

—Petroleum News