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Home My WebLink AboutHydro Power Proposed Plan for Power Development in the Railbelt Area, Alaska 1959L - Rfll Ol/f (!. ' LIBRARY COPY DO . NOT REMOVE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF RECLAMATION ALASKA DISTRICT HYDROELECTRIC POWER PROPOSED PLAN FOR POWER DEVELOPMENT IN THE RAILBELT AREA, ALASKA OCTOBER 1959 UNITEiJ ST.AJE3 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTEF.IOR BUBEAD' OF RE£LAMATION ALASKA DISTRICT liXJR)JILli1JTRIC POWER ALASKA POWER AUTHORITY LIBRARY COPY PLEASE, DO NOT REMOVE FROM OFFICE!! PII)J'(SEI) PLAN fOR POWE DEVELOPMPJf.r IB TBB RAU·BELT ABBA ALASKA 10-21-59 ') EVELOPMENT PLAN OF 0 R SI TE S --...-.,-_.,...,.> R £ S £ R VOl I .<'-·'·..-:~""··'» • I DA M SI T£5 O WER P LANTS CTRIC p • HYOR O-flf B O UNDARY -~BASIN '-....~ ATION ' EX PLAN TS CONSIDERED ~~ PROJEC OTHER ERVO I R SITES ~~~(·, R£5 OA W SIT£5 CR PlANTS -£ l fCT R IC PO W HYD RO i I I '"~'~.eo" I 0'····~-· sus i,T•u •••• .. RIVER BASIN SUSITNA O PM ENT l TI MATE DEVE l PLANOFU AND NS I DERED OTHER PROJECTS CO PROPOSED PLAN FOR POWER DEVELOPMENT IN THE RAILBELT AREA Jt:I..N3KA 1b.e Susitna River Basin is ideal in many respects for initiating a substantial hydroelectric development program in the Rail- belt of Al.ask.a. Drawi:cs No. 785 .. 906-9, published originally in the Bureau of Reclamation's Susitna Basin Report of 19531 illustrates the river's importance as a maJor power source. '!be Susitna is Alaska 1 s fourth largest river. It drains an area of nearly 20,000 square mil.es. Its averaae annual runoff at the outlet is estimated to be greater than the Colorado River flow at Hoover Dam. RecOilllaissance inveetiaationa made by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1952 and 1953 provided the basis for a long range plan of development. These early ·studies 1ndicated that the upper basin (that portion ixtend- ing from the railroad crossing at Gold Creek to the headwaters) 4-ould be considered first. · Four dam ai tee are presently being considered in this upper basin plan of development. 1heae are illustrated on the drawing, "Railbe.lt Power Gridu and are called DevU C&DJon, Watana, Vee and Denali. 'lbeae four sites have five ver;y desirable characteristics in camDOD. ~ are nearly cent.ral.J.T located between Anchonge and :Pairbanka. llJleJ .would s~ lov coat powr to the entire Bailbelt. 1he1r construction can be ISchectulecl to provide optimum coordination with chAPs'na power uae cODd1t1aD8. bir develop~ent will not inter .. tere with migrating salmon Z'UD8 111 the Suaitzla. 1hezoe is very little conf'l1ct tor other uaea of the laDd and water reaources. 1he tour upper baaia sites compliment each other. As each new dam is bu1l t 1 better river repla'tian is obta1necl. 'lbis in .turn permits a areater power output trcm do1118treell plant&. For inatance, construc- tion of DevU 081'l10ll alone will p1"0dd.¥le a t1rm generating capabUi ty of sJ.i8htly over 87.o,ooo,ooo kilowatt-hours anmJaJJy. However, men upstream atorap is provided by conatruction of DeDal1 Dam, Devil. Canyon will be able to produce about 2 1 900 1 0001 000 kilowatt-hours annually. 1hia ia an iiiCrease of 333 percent in t:l.rm capability. It a powerplant is included at Denali the coo:rd:1nated operation ot the Dev1l Canyon and Denali powerplants v1ll xroduce about 3,300,000,000 kiloWatt-hours of firm enerSJ annually. 1he total firm output from the tou:r-dam develop- ment should well exceed 11 000 1 0001 000 ld.l.owatt-hours per year and LEGEND TRANSMISSION LINES POWERPLANTS SUBSTATIONS EXISTING : r PROPOSED ----~ 0 EKLLJ'~A PROJECT (EXISTING) DAM -26' 30,000 K W ® DEVIL CANYOI\I PROJECT DAM-600' CONCRETE ARCH 500,000 KW .. 0 WATANA PROJECT DAM-425' CONCRETE ARCH 350,000 KW 0 VEE PROJECT DAM-435' CONCRETE ARCH 300,000 KW 0 DENA L1 DAM-190' EARTHFILL ® CHAKACHAMNA PROJECT NO DAM 200,000 KW CHAKACHANNA I ' I • "' I ~ I !10 RAILBEL T POWER GRID PROPOSED BY U.S.S.R. (INITIAL) SCALE OF MILES 0 50 provide wore than l,uoo,ooo kilowatts of installed capacity. It is estimated that this ultimate 7,0001 000,000-plus kilowatt-hour block of power would cost about 5 mills per kilowatt-hour. Devil Canyon Project Development of the upper SUsitna Basin would be initiated by construction of the Devil Canyon ProJect. Both the Devil Canyon and Denali dam sites have been incorporated into this one proJect. '!be Bureau of Reclamation has been conduct:l.n8 a comprehensive investigation ot this proJect tor the past four years. All tield work, including core drill1ng1 surveys 1 geological investigations 1 materials sampling, etc. 1 has been completed. A teaaib1l1ty report, presently be1Dg written, is scheduled tor compJ.etion in March 196o. Devil C81J10D Dam S1 te 'lbe DevU Caeyon Dam would be located about 15 m:Ues upstream tran the Gold Creek railroad station. !!he structure would be a cODCrete- arch type, 6oo teet high. 'lbe powerpJ.ant, located at the base ot the 2 dam, woul.d have an installed capacity of 500,000 kilowatts. Transmission lines, as illustrated on the drawing "Railbelt Power Gridn would be built to both Anchorage and Fairbanks. Transmission voltage would be 220 1 000 volts or greater. At Anchorage the transmission line would terminate at the existing Bureau of Reclamation substation. A substa- tion site is yet to be selected at the Fairbanks terminus. ' ~ 1 j 1 DenaJ 1 Dam 81 te 918 DeMl1 Dam site is on tbe SU&it.Da River approximately 15 miles doWnstream from tb.e DeDAJ1 h1ahW87 briclp. At this location an eartb.fill clam between 190 8ll4 21.3 teet h1e;b. would be buil.t. 1be Denali reservoir 'WOuld serve priDD1pal..l¥ to prov14e water and sediment storage. tn.timate.ly, however, it is expected that a powerplant with a 95 1 000- kilowatt capecitJ would also be built. 1he DeD8ll s1 te and its plan ot develop:uent are somewhat unique in several respects. A dam 21.3 teet high would provide a reser- voir with more than 6,4oo,ooo acre-teet ot storage. Actual operation of the reservoir would provide water releases for only about six months of the year. 1be powerpla.nt "WWUld therefore operate at almost fUll 3 capacity 24 hours a day for about 6 months during tall and winter and not at all for the rest of the year. Preliminary cost estimates indicate Devil Cacyon Project power can probably be dell vered in both ADeb.ot-ase and Fairbanks for between 5.0 and 6.o mills per kilowatt~our • • Watana ProJect 'lhe Watana ProJect gets its name trom the proximi t;y of the proposed dam site to the confluence of Watana Creek w1 th the Susi tna River. 'lhis site is approxiDiately 30 miles upstream from the proposed location at Devil CSDYon Dam. Here again a comrete-arch dam could be bull t; this one rising to a height of about 425 feet. 'lhe powerplant would be located at the base of the dam. Watana, like DevU CSDYon, would benefit from ~e upstream storage provided by the Denali Reservoir. In turn Watana would provide further river regulation and benefits to Devil CSD¥on Wata.na Dam Site 4 No field work has been accomplished at Watana to date nor has a coordinated operation study of Devil Canyon-Watana-Denali been made. However, it is believed that the minimum powerplant capacity "Which wouJ..d be installed at Watana is about 350 1 000 kilowatts. Vee Project Approximately 68 miles upstream trom Devil Canyon is an excellent C8llfon dam site called Vee. Like Watana, no comprehensive field investigations have been mac1B of vee. Rowever, the FY 1961 investi- gations program of the Bureau of Reclamation provides for in1 tiation of such investigations. As present11 conceived a 435-foot high, concrete- arch dam 'WOuld be built here. With a dam ot this heisht, a 300,000- kUowatt i)Owerpl.ant would utilize the water. , Construction of Vee would benefit both W&tana $1d Devil Canyon powerplants downstream. • Vee Dam Site 5 Chakacbamna Project Just outside of the Susi tna Biver Basin but capable of serving the same .general power market area is the Chakachamna ProJect. 'lhis proJect is shown on the drawing "Rallbel t Power Grid". Preliminary studies indicate it to be comparable in size and unit cost to those of the upper Susitna Basin. A stream gaging program was initiated for this project in 1959. Runoff data to date 1nd1cate a much greater potential may be available than had previous~ been estimated. If' this proves to be the cue 1 the proJect could probabl.1 develop between 2001 000 aDd 300,000 kilowatts. '1 Chakachamna Lake No dam woul4 be required tor the proJect. Instead a tunnel would be drive to tap Qlakacbenma Lake below its present water surface and the natural lake basin woul4 be used aa a reservoir • ... Cost ot Cbakacbsmna pove! delivered at Ar.lchorage may prove to be less than 5.0 mills. It it could be utilized at the nearest tide- water it presents sa. very 1nteresti.Dg possibilities. Bo tield work has bea accomplished tor the Chake.chSID1l8 Project to date. However, the Bureau ot Reclamation baa programed initiation ot such investigations tor the sUJIIDer ot 1960. 6 :the Ra1lbelt Power Use and P'ac1llt1es 'lb.e .AJ.aska "Rai.lbelt" is ncr maJ.J.y pictured as that area which 1a contiguous to 'tile Alaska Railroad. A8 a power market area ita bol.~J ary is arbitraril¥ exteJ'l4e4 to iDclude the western aide ot the Kenai Peninsula and the area serviced by the Alaska High'W&)' between Fairbanu and Big Delta. It inclu4ea, in ettect, that portion ol Alaska 'Which would most lilutl¥ be servtl4 bJ 4evelopDent ot SUa1 t.zla River h)'dro power. In 1958 there were a total 11 12 izldiv14ual utility syst~ms diatributing central stat:l.oD powr v.t.tbill tl:l18 "B&Ubelt". 1hese by no means served the entire pover JD8I'ket uea. Duoee ot these utU1ties were munic1pall:J 011De41 tour were &B.A. t1DaDee4 coopentivea aDd tive we:re privatel.J CMled c0111p8Jliea. ~ t1ve pr1 vate cCIIIJ.P8Diee eened oall" ve-q J.1mi ted areas w1 tb. small 41eael unit.. Die aasresate ot their iutalle4 capacity in 1958 was ODll' 6:Lo ld.lovatt.. All ot these ;pri.vatelJ 01DI4 utUitiu we:re startecl to •ern a cU.re need in a small iaolated area &Dd. v.Ul Pl'Obabl.y ev~ be iJlcorporated. in tbe r~ expanding R.B • .A. cooperative syetema. Table I liata tbe 1958 R&Ubelt utilities along with their inatall.e4 ll8Diplate leMrating capacit¥ aDd.· otber capacitJ available to tb.eal. !lbe ooet ot power generation in the Ballbelt ranges from lOo 8 mills per ltilovatt-bour t~ lklut1la ProJect lQ'dl'O to 23 to 25 mills tor large 41eeel Ulli ta. Coet ot ateaa ceneratiOD variee troll 'betwa.:.about 18.0 to 20.0 lllilla per w.owatt-bcur. BMed on 1958 ratee 8Dil ll'f'ttraP residential monthl.)' use the cost ot :powr to the reaid8Dt1al COU\11111' raap4 f'lv:l a low of 3. 8o cents per ld.lowtt-bou:r in ADcbo:Np to 16.00 ceta per kilowatt-hour in lenaD&. ID J'airb&DU J.t coet 7.2 .. ceta per ld.lawatt-hour. !lbe ~tiODBl a..,.. tor .the s._ year-. 2.53 ceuta per Jd.lovatt-hour. 92-e appJ'Old.mate total. 1955 utilit.r power requirement of tr.e Railbel.t (1DclUd.iJ:1& ea'tl.•tecl 1D41Yi4ual loads alol:ls the Railroad not prettetl¥ aenecl bf a utilit¥) vu 2011 0001 000 Jdl.ovat't-houra. In three year• (1955-1958) tb1a ~ srev to about 254,000,000 ldlowatt- hcure. tis npreHDta an avuage azmt'Uil rate ot 1Dcrease ot 8.2 per- cent. lD 1958 tbe DOD..coi:acideDtal NDct the ut111v peak loads tor tbe separate load areaa total.ecl appi'OXI.ma~ 54,000 ld.lowatts. At a 7 8 coussrvative 8.2 percent anc.ual increase the total Railbelt peak u~ili ty requirement of 196o will be greater than all non-mill ta.ry install3d firm byt'.ro and steam aenerati.rlc capacity available. It Devil Cai~Yon ProJect powv (500 1 000 kiloVatts) became available in 1968 at a unit rate of lees thaD 6.0 mW.s per kUowatt· hour it appears llkel¥ to be tul.ly utilized b;y 1980. It its avail- ab1llt;y acts as a ca~at to in4uatrial development1 additional blocks ot powr v:Ul be needed b;y that 4ate. 9 - • ,... - -