MEA makes power play

EKLUTNA — “This is the biggest undertaking MEA has ever taken on,” Matanuska Electric Association board president Lois Lester told dignitaries gathered Tuesday to mark the groundbreaking of the Eklutna Generation Station.

The natural gas-fired plant will provide 170 megawatts “of relatively inexpensive and highly reliable electrical energy for the entire Railbelt,” Lester said.

Nearly everyone who spoke at the ceremony noted that the creation of the power plant is a historic step for MEA. The cooperative has for decades been only in the distribution business, buying power from larger co-ops and providing the lines to get it to customers. That will no longer be the case in 2014 when the 10 generators start pumping 17 megawatts each into the system.

“MEA strikes out to become a vertically integrated utility completely in charge of its own destiny,” Lester told the crowd.

Mat-Su Borough Mayor Larry DeVilbiss, who is also an MEA board member, began his remarks by noting that the site for the power plant is outside borough borders.

“I’m a little bit at a loss for words as the mayor of the Mat-Su Borough to be standing in the Municipality of Anchorage,” DeVilbiss said.

But there’s history there. MEA, he noted, was the only company with “the guts” to send power to Chugiak and Eagle River. Anchorage companies wanted no part of it. He said he sees a bright future for MEA.

“Everybody is convinced that we can do this more cheaply than wheeling power out of Anchorage,” he said. The site is on land formerly owned by Eklutna Inc., an Alaska Native corporation. The corporation’s CEO, Curtis McQueen, said the company has enjoyed working with MEA.

“We see the value of a power plant in this area,” he said. “(MEA General Manager) Joe (Griffith) constantly amazes me by how connected he is and how many opportunities will come to Eklutna land because of the power plant.”

MEA’s head of human resources, Cheryl Heinze, still had blue paint on her hands from painting a mock-up of one of the plant’s generators.

Wes Lindsey, an MEA employee tapped to work on building the station, said all the pomp and circumstance was a way for MEA to underscore just how important the ceremony was.

“It’s the opportunity of a lifetime,” he said of the chance to work on the project.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.