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Railbelt planning a go
RRC initiates moves to develop an integrated resource plan for electric system
Alan Bailey for Petroleum News
uring its Aug. 4 board meeting the governing board of the Railbelt Reliability Council authorized the RRC to move ahead with the development of an integrated resource plan for the Alaska Railbelt electrical system. As a consequence, RRC Chief Executive Officer Ed Jenkin is initiating the process of hiring a contractor to conduct the planning work.
Approved by the Regulatory Commission of Alaska in 2022 as the electric reliability organization for the Alaska Railbelt generation and transmission system, the RRC has a role to maintain and mandate reliability standards for the Railbelt's high voltage electrical system; administer rules for open access to the transmission grid; and conduct Railbelt-wide integrated resource planning. The concept is to minimize the cost of electricity in the Railbelt while also ensuring reliable electricity supplies.
ultiple ownership The Railbelt electrical system is owned and operated by five independent utilities and the state of Alaska. This fragmentation of ownership leads to some duplication of facilities and other inefficiencies in the manner in which the system operates. There is also an interest in increasing the use of renewable energy sources across the system, in part to help address pending shortages in natural gas supplies for power generation in the Cook Inlet region. In addition, economies of scale in power generation can be improved through regional coordination.
The organization began working on the reliability standards last year and has begun filing standards with the RCA -- the RCA recently approved the first tranche of standards. The more recently formed Railbelt Transmission Organization within the Alaska Energy Authority has been developing a new unified tariff for the transmission system. Meanwhile start of work by the RRC on the IRP has been delayed somewhat pending the preparation of a plan for developing the IRP, a prerequisite to being able to hire a contractor with a clear scope of work for determining contractor costs.
The IRP process During an Aug. 13 RCA public meeting Jenkin overviewed the process that the RRC envisages for developing the IRP. He said that the RRC anticipates hiring a contractor in October, with working group meetings for the project beginning in late October. Definitions and objectives for the IRP would be developed in the first quarter of 2026, with a preferred portfolio for the future electrical system being delivered to the RRC board in late 2026. An action plan for implementing the IRP would then be completed in early 2027.
There are firms in Alaska that may bid for the contractor position, Jenkin commented.
Jenkin emphasized the importance of having clearly understood and agreed objectives for the IRP, as well as making sure that there is a clear set of definitions relating to the planning, before the planning itself begins.
As in the development of reliability standards, the IRP process will involve the use of a technical advisory committee, composed of appropriate technical experts, overseeing working groups that involve the participation of stakeholders in the system. And Jenkin emphasized the importance of stakeholder involvement in all of the RRC's initiatives. Stakeholders include household and commercial electricity consumers; the electricity utilities; independent power producers; and the state of Alaska. At the top of the organization different classes of stakeholders are represented on the RRC board, while there is also the participation of stakeholders and potentially members of the public in working groups that develop RRC products. In addition, the organization communicates to the public through various public meetings.
"We do try to engage publicly as far as what we are doing and why people might be interested in what we are doing, and why they may want to participate in the process," Jenkin told the commission.
Reliability standards This stakeholder and public engagement process has already been put into action in connection with the progress to date in developing the electrical system reliability standards.
Four of the reliability standards have now progressed through the complete development process, including approval by the RCA, Jenkin said. As previously reported by Petroleum News, those standards address the necessary controls for interconnections on the high voltage electrical system.
Two other standards have now been approved by the RRC board, Jenkin commented. One of these addresses the responsibilities for reliability coordination for the electrical system, while the other addresses the balancing of power generation to ensure stability in the system. Currently the RRC is working on standards for transmission system performance and on guidelines for the penalties that may be applied for infringements of the standards. Once this work has been completed, the organization will move forward with the development of standards for the connection to the Railbelt electrical system for entities that wish to interconnect, Jenkin said.
The transmission system In response to a question from Commissioner Robert Pickett about the funding needs for upgrading the current low capacity Railbelt transmission system Jenkin commented that, unlike in the Lower 48, where the planning of power generation assets is the focus of an integrated resource plan, the plan for the Railbelt will include both power generation and power transmission. With a transmission constrained system in the Railbelt, it will be necessary to evaluate potential new generation resources in relation to a plan for the transmission system and, thus, consider the transmission aspects of those resources, Jenkin said.
Currently the Alaska Energy Authority is pursuing a project to build a subsea high voltage direct current transmission line under Cook Inlet from the Kenai Peninsula to the Anchorage region. This project has been awarded a federal grant, but the grant requires matching funds. AEA has thus far obtained sufficient matching funds for the relatively low cost initial phases of the project and has expressed confidence in obtaining additional funds as the project progresses. Pickett suggested that construction of this transmission line would be critical to a decision to proceed with a proposed expansion to the Bradley Lake hydropower system in the southern Kenai Peninsula. Bradley Lake currently produces the cheapest electricity in the Railbelt and supplies power to the Railbelt utilities via the transmission system.
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