GVEA starts up its Healy Unit 2

 Golden Valley Electric Association started up its Healy Unit 2 coal power plant on July 3 for a three-month operating test. The Interior cooperative hopes to begin full service with the plant in September. The $295 million plant was built in 1989 with a large U.S. Department of Energy grant supplemented with Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority bond funds to test new coal plant emissions control technologies. DOE was satisfied with tests of the technologies but the plant, then owned by AIDEA, encountered problems with operating efficiencies. A protracted period of dispute resolution between the authority and GVEA, who was to operate the plant, ended in 2017 when GVEA purchased the plant.

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$800,000 energy refund in SE

The Southeast Alaska Power Agency board voted an $800,000 “municipal rebate” for its three main customers, the Ketchikan, Petersburg and Wrangell boroughs. Petersburg’s share was $202,503. The agency also set its wholesale power rate at 6.8 cents/kilowatt hour for next year. The rate has remained unchanged for several years. The power agency, which operates hydro dams and a long-distance transmission line, is also moving to set up a $2 million reserve fund for contingencies.

Overall, the agency is doing well with power usage up in all three of its customer communities and its expenses down.