Comment ends Oct. 15 for Susitna hydro ‘Proposed Study Plan’

TALKEETNA — The comment period ends Oct. 15 on the Proposed Study Plan — P-14241 — for the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission July 16.

The Proposed Study Plan includes 58 formal environmental studies to be conducted in 2013 and 2014. This is in addition to the 18 environmental studies under way this field season.

Technical Workgroup Meetings were held earlier this month as part of the process to develop a Revised Study Plan. The Alaska Energy Authority also is working with stakeholders to address comments and to incorporate them into the Revised Study Plan, to be filed with FERC in November.

As part of this process, Alaska Energy Authority is scheduling specific and focused workgroup meetings in September. Here is a list of meetings scheduled so far:

• Cultural Resources — Sept. 7, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., first-floor conference room at the Sunshine Mall in Downtown Anchorage. Meeting is to define the Area of Potential Effect.

• Water Resources and Instream Flow — Sept. 14, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Meeting is to review potential study sites and address agency comments.

• Recreation and Socioeconomics — Sept. 21, 8 a.m. to TBA. Meeting is to define survey instruments.

Located at River Mile 184 above Devils Canyon, the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project would be an estimated 700-feet tall, 39-miles long and 2-miles wide. The project is expected to provide long-term, stable electric rates for generations of Alaskans while diversifying the state’s energy portfolio and moving Alaska toward its goal of using 50 percent renewable energy for 2025.

Preliminary studies include three generating units with an installed capacity of 600 megawatts. The powerhouse, dam and related facilities, expected to be online by 2023, will be linked by transmission lines to the Railbelt Intertie and produce an annual average of 2.5 million megawatt hours.