OPINION: The future of Eklutna power

At the end of April, the Chugach Electric Association, Inc. board of directors voted unanimously to join the other owners (the Municipality of Anchorage, Matanuska Electric Association, Inc.) of the Eklutna Hydroelectric Project on submitting a significantly improved fish and wildlife program to the governor. This proposal was improved through public comments, numerous meetings with partner state and federal agencies, and meetings with the Native Village of Eklutna. Our vote and the proposed final program, once approved by the governor, will launch years of work to protect, mitigate damages to, and enhance the fish and wildlife habitat in and along the Eklutna River that has been impacted by the Project.

We recognize how important the Eklutna River’s fish and wildlife resources are to the communities of Southcentral Alaska, and especially to the Native Village of Eklutna. That is why the Chugach Board supported increasing the instream habitat restoration efforts from the draft proposal released in October to hopefully accelerate salmon returning to the river in the coming decades. The proposal also includes provisions to increase instream water flows in the future as inflows to the reservoir are expected to increase and salmon return further up the river.

Once mitigation efforts are in place, and after 10 years of monitoring the success of these steps, the restoration efforts could also include upstream and downstream fish passage to support sockeye salmon returning to Eklutna Lake. We believe this key “re-opener” clause contained in the Proposed Final Program creates meaningful opportunities for the utilities, the Municipality, the Native Village of Eklutna, state and federal resource agencies, and other partners to keep working toward our shared goals of creating fish habitat, maintaining drinking water for Anchorage, and advancing renewable energy.

While some argued for delay in sending the recommendations to the governor, the owners were legally bound to move it forward now. We also wanted to make public as soon as possible the new elements of the Proposed Final Program that reflect hard work by many parties since last October. Community members and utility ratepayers deserve a full understanding of the balance the owners tried to strike between potential salmon habitat restoration and the financial impact on taxpayers and ratepayers.

We also firmly believe we cannot jeopardize the real progress being made by Chugach to expand our renewable generation portfolio and protect Chugach members from the negative price impacts resulting from the looming natural gas shortage. Today, we rely on hydro for low-cost, “dispatchable” power to meet peak loads when other renewable resources, such as wind, are not available. This winter, when gas deliverability from the Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska (CINGSA) was significantly reduced due to operational restrictions during frigid temperatures, both Eklutna and Bradley Lake hydroelectric facilities were critical to prevent widespread power outages in Southcentral.

Our energy landscape in Alaska is changing rapidly. We expect that promising technology for renewable and low-carbon electric generation will change our dependency on the Eklutna Project over time. Other factors that will impact our dependency on the Project include changes in electric sales, natural gas supplies and the potential for a renewable portfolio standard. As a board, we have green-lighted projects to improve generation flexibility from Cooper Lake and access to Bradley Lake. We have invested in battery storage and new solar projects. More wind projects are on the horizon, such as Little Mount Susitna, and research is underway for expanded energy storage and tidal energy.

While the original Project was built by the federal government in 1955, it was sold to the MOA, MEA and Chugach in 1997. Southcentral Alaska residents and businesses have benefited from low-cost power from the Project for decades. We, as a board, will faithfully fulfill our obligations under the 1991 Agreement to protect, mitigate damages to, and enhance the fish and wildlife habitat in and along the river that has been impacted by the Project.

Chair Sam Cason; Vice Chair Sisi Cooper; Treasurer Rachel Morse; Secretary Susanne Fleek-Green; and directors Bettina Chastain, Mark Wiggin and Jim Nordlund are the members of Chugach Electric Association’s board of directors.

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