On Wednesday, during the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference, the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) and the Railbelt utilities announced plans to spend more than $200 million on transmission line upgrades. These enhancements aim to reduce line losses, increase capacity, and improve the delivery of power from the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project to Railbelt consumers. These projects will be the initial phase of some significant improvements to the Railbelt electrical grid.
The projects include:
- Upgrade to Transmission Line between Bradley Junction and Soldotna Substation
- Upgrade to Transmission Line between Soldotna Substation and Sterling Substation
- Upgrade to Transmission Line between Sterling Substation and Quartz Creek Substation
- Battery Energy Storage Systems for Grid Stabilization
These transmission projects will reduce the constraints of the Railbelt grid by improving the Kenai Peninsula’s transmission capacity to export power from Bradley Lake, while also allowing for the integration of additional renewable energy generation. Additionally, the planned projects are expected to provide jobs and other economic development activities from the Kenai Peninsula to Fairbanks.
Gov. Dunleavy said:
“You’re going to find that transmission is going to be a discussion point that started awhile ago between the utilities, Curtis (Thayer) and myself. Part of that discussion involved a concept, for example, in the Railbelt of tying the entire Railbelt together because right now, as mentioned, this system only goes to Delta. It leaves out Tok, leaves out Glenallen and leaves out some really valuable stranded assets down in Valdez with the hydro that they have as well. Imagine, hopefully in a very short period of time, the entire Railbelt is wired in. We’re able to share energy sources. This gives us an opportunity then to pour more energy from those sources into this line.”
HEA General Manager Brad Janorschke said:
“Under the leadership of AEA and this administration, the Railbelt utilities are proud that their collective efforts resulted in securing millions of dollars to provide badly needed upgrades to an aging transmission system. These upgrades will provide increased reliability without raising the rates of Homer Electric Association, Inc.’s (HEA) members. HEA is committed to continuing to seek additional opportunities to multiply these successes with its Railbelt partners.”
The Railbelt utilities include Homer Electric Association, Seward Electric System, Chugach Electric Association, Golden Valley Electric Association, and Matanuska Electric Association.
Click here for more information.