MEA to unveil plans for growth

February 2, 2007

By Russell Stigall/Frontiersman

PALMER - Matanuska Electric Association wants coal in its stocking by the middle of the next decade.

Matanuska Electric's plans for new power generation, coal, gas and renewable, will be discussed this weekend during a series of question-and-answer meetings, starting Friday.

Currently, MEA is under contract with Chugach to buy power until Dec. 31, 2014. Between now and the end of the Chugach contract, MEA and its partners want to build two new 100-megawatt power plants: a coal-powered plant for base power and a natural gas plant for peak times. The plan is to reduce the area's dependence on power from Anchorage.

Kim Floyd, former manager of corporate and public communications for Matanuska Electric Association, said MEA will build a &#8220clean” coal plant centered around a &#8220circulating fluidized bed.” The technology is 80 percent cleaner than traditional coal-fired plant, Floyd said. It also burns a number of fuels, including renewable material such as trees.

&#8220Once fully integrated, at least 10 percent of the utility's energy portfolio will be comprised of renewable resources,” according to an MEA news release.

Local community organizations already have begun campaigning against coal power in the Mat-Su Valley. South Palmer Community Organization, formally known as No Palmer Prison, had a meeting Sunday to discuss the coal power issue. Conservation advocates in Seward stopped construction of a coal-powered electrical plant last year.

According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, a fluidized bed mixes flue gasses with a sulfur-absorbing chemical, such as limestone or dolomite. This way more than 95 percent of the sulfur pollutants in coal can be captured inside the boiler. Commercial fluidized bed units operate with nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions below levels mandated by federal standards, according to the Web site. However, the reductions may be less substantial than they seem since they coincide with increases in carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emissions.

MEA also plans to add five megawatts of power from renewable resources, such as wind, geothermal, tidal or small hydropower.

Matanuska Electric Association serves more than 50,000 customers in the Mat-Su Valley and Chugiak-Eagle River area. Founded in 1941 as the state's first electric cooperative, MEA has headquarters in Palmer.

The first MEA meeting starts at 6 p.m. Friday in Meadow Lakes at the Midnight Sun Family Learning Center on Pittman Road. Other meetings are scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday in Palmer at the Rail Depot Community Center, 610 South Valley Way; and at 3 p.m. Saturday in Eagle River in the MOA Conference Room, 11901 Business Blvd., second floor.

MEA's annual meeting is scheduled for March 17 at Colony High School. Doors will open at noon, registration begins at 12:30 p.m., and the meeting starts at 2 p.m.

Contact Russell Stigall at

352-2267 or russell.stigall@ frontiersman.com.