By Jessica Edwards
Local electric bills have increased twice in the past four months due
to use of supplemental diesel power required by low water levels at Skagway’s Goat
Lake.
While utility officials characterize the long-term diesel use as
unusual – previous to February, diesels were required only seven months since Haines
connected to hydroelectric power in 1998 – they say that without new sources of
hydro, diesels will be required into the future, at least during peak winter months.
Alaska Power and Telephone recently asked Haines and Skagway
governments for comment on a proposal to develop a hydro dam on a lake above Chilkoot
Lake, an idea that’s been studied for decades.
The connection of a new hydro project at Kasidaya Creek in August will
help maintain water levels at Goat Lake, alleviating problems like the recent one, but
won’t provide enough power to cover peak usage or community growth, utility manager
Stan Selmer said this week.
Base rates of 7.7 cents per kilowatt-hour in Haines, fairly stable for
the last three years, rose to 9 cents for February and March and jumped again to 10.61
cents in April, Selmer said. (Additional charges push rates to 23 cents per kilowatt-hour
in town.) Rates may rise again in July, but Selmer was hopeful Goat Lake would be back
online to prevent another hike.
If hydro generation is at full capacity for June and July, rates could
be lower, he said.
Hydro is currently providing a little more than half the power for
Haines and Skagway, Selmer said. This time of year, warm weather and increased water flow
can reduce AP&T’s daily consumption of diesel from 2,500 gallons to 750 gallons
in a single day, he said.
The cost to customers of generating electricity entirely from hydro is
7.66 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to 26.8 cents for full reliance on diesel, Selmer
said.
"We’re hoping for snowmelt," Selmer said. Goat Lake is
currently down 35 feet. The maximum it is allowed to be drained is 40 feet. In the past,
Goat Lake has begun to fill from spring melt between May 25 and June 5.
Selmer blamed the energy shortfalls on low rain last fall.
The completion of the three-megawatt Kasidaya Creek project this August
will supplement energy needs while the river runs. Selmer said that would help keep Goat
Lake full during the summer.
Borough Mayor Fred Shields this week criticized a U.S. Forest Service
permit condition requiring the utility to release at least 8.5 cubic feet per second of
water to be released into Pitchfork Falls, the outflow stream of Goat Lake, after May 15.
"In today’s climate, that permit needs to be revisited,"
said Shields. "Any tourists coming to Skagway won’t know whether or not there
was a waterfall there. The priority should be generating power."
Selmer said in response to requests, the Forest Service in 2005 had
already reduced the flow requirements for Pitchfork Falls from 13 cubic feet per second to
8.5. Forest Service officials this week said although there was an application process to
change the permit requirements, further reductions seemed unlikely.
The current four mega-watts of power supplied by Goat Lake are
generated by about 32 cubic feet per second, meaning that about one mega-watt is released
to keep the falls running from May 15 to Sept. 30.
But Selmer said the May start date for the releases generally coincided
with springmelt, making the available flow adequate. "We’ve never had a
situation come about where we had to make a choice between hydro generation or the
waterfall," Selmer said. "There’s always been enough water for the
releases."
"I’m comfortable the lake is going to be full before we start
the release," Selmer said.
AP&T is seeking an endorsement from the Haines Borough for further
study of hydro sources here, including at Connelly Lake, in response to a call from
borough leaders for cheaper power rates. Borough support is required to begin the
permitting process for multiple state and federal agencies, and to study the
project’s conceivability, Selmer said.
Projected power use increases in Haines and Skagway in a system that
must already run make-up diesel during peak times make a new hydro project such as the
Connelly Lake project a necessity, Selmer said.
"The only way to defeat running peaking diesel is to build another
storage facility," he said.
Connelly Lake was a site deemed promising by energy surveys in the
early 1980s. Haines Power and Light investigated a six-megawatt facility at Connelly Lake,
formerly called Upper Chilkoot Lake, in the mid-1990s, surveys on which AP&T is basing
its current interest.
Selmer said building the project to maximum capacity, an industry
standard, would mean a 12 rather than a 6-megawatt project
A 12-megawatt project could supply cruise ships, which currently run
diesel engines while in port, with hydro-generated electricity. In turn, selling
electricity to the cruise ships would help recoup the cost of the project, Selmer said.
Building a storage hydro facility at Connelly Lake would require
construction of a containment berm or dam 30-50 feet high and possibly larger for a
12-megawatt capacity. Other required infrastructure are the penstock—the pipe that
constricts the water flow downward for optimal energy transfer, a powerhouse, a road or
trail to the powerhouse, and transmission lines connecting the powerhouse to existing
infrastructure on Lutak Road.
"It would be our intention to build lines underground,"
Selmer said, adding that geography in certain sections might require short stretches of
overhead lines to prevent costly, frequent repairs.
