A loud bang and ringing echo lingered in downtown Haines on Thursday morning just before 8 a.m. A puff of smoke floating away from the stacks at the Alaska Power & Telephone power plant was the only indicator that something had gone awry at the facility. 

Later that day, workers went up in a lift and peered down into one of the three stacks. 

“We have an engine that has been under repair and in testing it, it basically backfired like a car can do, just on a larger scale,” wrote company power operations manager Darren Belisle in an email on Thursday. 

Power plant watchers in Haines have noticed that the facility has been burning more fuel recently. That’s because the company’s hydropower sources can’t keep up with demand this time of year. 

“Kasidaya is a run-of-the-river type hydro and in the winter there is not enough water to keep the hydro running,” Belisle said. “Once we winterize Kasidaya, Goat Lake cannot produce enough to keep up with the load.” 

The company has been relying more on diesel to keep energy loads stable and consistent in Skagway and Haines. 

“We have been running diesel since mid-January for peaking operations,” he said. “We have just been running the bulk of it in Skagway.”

On average, the company is able to come off of diesel between mid-April and mid-May. 

“The way the weather is so far this spring, I’m hoping it is closer to mid-April this year,” Belisle said.