Help needed to build Railbelt power ‘backbone’

It has been a while since I took pen in hand and discussed the importance of electricity to the Railbelt (Homer to Fairbanks) economy and to Matanuska Electric Association’s membership in particular.

Simply put, today our economy cannot function without electrical power. Our businesses and daily lives have changed to the point where we take reliable and affordable electrical power for granted. It’s the power behind our work tools and our toys — our phones, computers, lights, security systems, Internet and so much more.

Electrical systems are made up of three components:

1. Generation systems that produce the power.

2. Transmission systems that move bulk power from the generation site to the general areas where it is needed.

3. Distribution systems that deliver the power directly to the customer.

For most of its history, MEA has limited its business to electricity distribution. We bought power produced by someone else and delivered it to our members. While MEA operates some high-voltage transmission lines, most of our power comes over lower voltage lines delivering to homes and businesses.

Bulk transmission systems deliver power up and down the Railbelt to the main population centers of Alaska. These transmission lines are the superhighways of the electrical system — critical infrastructure no less important than roads, ports and airports. They let us move power from where it is produced to where it is needed, and they let us obtain our power from many locations. Bradley Lake near Homer, Cooper Lake on Kenai Peninsula, Nikiski, Beluga, Municipal Light and Power Plant 2, Eklutna Hydro, Fairbanks and in a few years our own Eklutna Generation Station are some of the locations serving the Railbelt with electrical power.

Soon, with new generation capability online on the Kenai Peninsula, the Railbelt’s transmission system will not be able to efficiently move power as we have for the last 25 years. This requires an immediate and major upgrade of the bulk transmission system (hereafter called the backbone system) to ensure that inexpensive power from Bradley Lake and other sources can be delivered north. Unfortunately, these backbone transmission fixes are expensive and well beyond the financial capacity of the Railbelt electrical utilities. So what is the solution?

Enter ARCTEC. ARCTEC — the Alaska Railbelt Cooperative Transmission and Electrical Co. — is the Railbelt’s first across-the-board partnership of the electric utilities. It’s literally the Railbelt’s generation and transmission utility.

ARCTEC is working closely with the Alaska Energy Authority to define the nature of the transmission constraints and craft a comprehensive plan to fix it.

Because of the enormous cost and the critical need for this project, we need state help. We will soon submit a proposal to the administration for a Fiscal Year 2014 grant. Then it must be funded by the Legislature.

Ensuring that the Legislature understands the gravity of the situation and the absolute necessity of funding the required upgrades to the backbone system will be ARCTEC’s top priority in the coming months, and we need your help. Please remind decision-makers, including your state legislators and other elected officials, that reliable and affordable electrical power is not an option in Alaska, and ask them how they will support the necessary funding.

Working together, we will get this vital job done and ensure that affordable and reliable electricity continues to power our lives and our local economies for years to come.

Joe Griffith is general manager of Matanuska Electric Association and CEO of ARCTEC.