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Recruiting begins for Susitna-Watana hydro facility

July 25th 1:41 pm | Alaska Newspapers Staff Print this article   Email this article   Create a Shortlink for this article

Alaska Energy Authority officials have begun recruiting for the Susitna-Watana hydroelectric project team, which Gov. Sean Parnell says he expects to be producing power on the Susitna River by 2023.

This team will be the core project group for the development of the Susitna-Watana project, Parnell said in an announcement today. A new webpage where the public, interested parties, the press and stakeholders can receive up to date project information is expected to be available this week, Parnell said.

Licensing of the project is expected to take six years and construction five years.

Parnell signed legislation necessary to move the project forward two weeks ago.

The Susitna-Watana project entails building a 700-foot-high dam on the river at the Watana site, creating a 39-mile-long reservoir with a maximum width of two miles. Energy would be generated using the glacial waters of the upper Susitna River, and transmitted north to the Interior and south to Southcentral Alaska along new and existing transmission lines.

The project will have an installed capacity of 600 megawatts, and aims to supply half of the Railbelt's current energy needs at a stable or declining rate for the project life of more than 100 years.

Parnell said the project is part of a comprehensive energy package to help Alaska reach its goal of 50 percent renewable energy by 2025, while providing many jobs.

The governor also said that the Alaska Energy Authority is preparing to file the preliminary Federal Energy Regulatory Commission application. AEA and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough are doing detailed mapping of the project site, and the Department of Fish and Game is performing fish surveys in the region.

Sara Fisher-Goad, executive director of AEA, echoed Parnell's prediction that the project will help Alaska reach that target of producing 50 percent of the state's power from renewable resources by 2025.

AEA has established and is recruiting for eight new Susitna-Watana project positions.

 

Alaska Newspapers Staff can be reached at editor@alaskanewspapers.com, or by phone at 907-348-2449

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