Second source of electricity will give new hospital power option

December 27, 2005

DAWN DE BUSK\Frontiersman reporter MAT-SU - Matanuska Electric Association crews are battling brush and downing trees with chain saws, trying to clear a swath of land so transmission lines can be readied to offer another source of electricity to the new Mat-Su Regional Medical Center by this spring. Meanwhile, the staff at Valley Hospital is busy preparing for the switchover to the new hospital facility Jan. 27.

MEA won't be working against the clock to get power on line when the hospital officially opens its doors to its first patients because the medical facility already has a primary electric source as well as a backup electrical power - a 1.5-million-watt generator, according to hospital spokesperson Elizabeth Ripley.

“It's unbelievable. It would power a small city,” she said.

That high-powered engine could become the heartbeat for some patients if the hospital suffered an extensive power outage.

“From our standpoint, the generator is a huge component in disaster preparedness,” Ripley said.

The Mat-Su Regional Medical Center administration has an emergency plan, she said.

Should an earthquake, high winds, or a grid failure leave the facility without electrical power - even for a period spanning two weeks, the generator would be pumping electricity into the hospital from the moment of the first flicker until the power is restored.

“We have surplus gas on hand to keep the generator running. We have contracts with the gas suppliers. In case of a disaster, those contracts would become primary for those companies, like it happened in New Orleans, when gas wasn't available except to the hospitals,” Ripley said.

MEA will spend $1.8 million on its transmission and distribution lines, and another $1.8 million on a new substation, according to MEA spokesman Mike Pauley.

The transmission lines' 2.6-mile route begins along an easement near Mat-Su Central Landfill. Already, the MEA in-house crew is one-third of the way done with the clearing. Construction of the lines should begin in the spring and be completed the following fall, Pauley said.

The convenience of added electrical lines will extend not only to the medical facility but to new development in the area.

“It's my understanding that MEA wanted those lines for the whole borough rather than just for the hospital,” Ripley said.

Contact Dawn De Busk at 352-2252 or dawn.debusk@

frontiersman.com.