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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPA3446by VIC REINEMER editor, PUBUC POWER ELECTIUflCA. TION IN ALASKA fits no mold familiar in the lower 48 states. Tiny private utilities serve remote areas. A municipal power system and a rural electric cooper- ative (REC) serve the major city, their distri- bution lines marching down both sides of some Anchorage streets. Co-ops generate 61 percent of the stat~'s power; municipals produce 27 percent. Eight percent of Alaska utilities' electricity comes through the Alaska Power Adminis- tration. a federal power marketing agency. It sells power from two dams, the 30-MW Eklutna Proje~ serving the Anchorage area. built by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1955, and the 47 .2-MW Snettisbam Project built by the Corps of Engineers in 1975. Chief beneficiary of th e f ederal Snettisbam Project is the state's largest pri- vate utility, Alaska Electric Light &. Power Co., which serves nearby Juneau, the state capital. OnJy 4 percent of the state 's electricity is Tit~ Sw:m Lalu Proj~ct in southeastun Alaslw typifi~s the smDII hy di'O dewlopment undutalc~n jointly by COI'UIIme~owtted ~/ectric sysums and tile Alaska Powt!r A11thority. 1<3 ~ compl~ted by Christmas. the 22.5-MW pi'Oject will nplace expetUi~ diu~/ se Mration /01' K~tchilwn. Alaslw's fifth ltu~st city and '""Y ~tied by a tratUmission liM to the Tyee Project. und~r COIUtTIICtion. which will se~ mllttlcipa/ ~lectrlc sysums in Wran~/1 and P~t~rsbwg. -~ ~t.w.-..t -.. ~e.;~mer,l ~··c .. tqi3 .. e_(evfh'6~:nc7 A lclc..k~. F\A.bL'c Po:.vv". 41 (~) ~ \O -Jq . Current C0/1St ruction by the Alaska P~r A .thorlty includes the Tyre Lake and Swan Lake hydro projects at l~r right, the Tvror Laice Hydro Project at bottom ~nter. waste--heat rerowry ullits in villages. tmd the Anchorage--Fairbanks Transmission lntertie. generated by private utilities, most of which are too small for the dignified title of .. inves- tor~wned utility" and only one step re- moved from the single diesel engine which generates electricity for one household throughout much of rural Alaska. Electric transmission is impractical in most parts of the state because of long dis- tance and small markets. You would have to vacate an area of Alaska as large as New England, New York state and West Virginia combined, huddle all Alaskans in what's left, to push the state's population up to one person per square mile. 1iusmission Lines Rare With minor exceptions. tra.nsmission lines operate only around Fairbanks, the second- largest city, and along Cook Inlet, from Homer to Anchorage and up to Palmer in !.he Matanuska Valley, whose rich soil - uncharacte.istic of the state-attracted fanners and dairymen a generation before Alaska achieved statehood in 1959. More than half of Alaska's 450,000 residents live in this "Railbelt" area tnversed by the 47(}. mile, federally owned Alaska Railroad run- ning from Fairbanlcs through Anchorage to Seward. Costs of transportation, shelter, food and clothing in Alaska generally exceed those in the lower 48, yet tbe average electric utility bill there, in aU categories of service, is less than the U.S. average, thanks to relatively low rates in the population centers. How- ever, 500 kilowatt-hours cost $241.35 in 48 western Alaska communities comprising the Alaska Village Electric Cooperative. Name the energy source -except nu- clear-and Alaska has it Alaska ranks first among the states in oil production, sec- ond in natural gas potential , with most pe- troleum basins not fully explored. Oil dnd gas are used to generate three-fourths of Alaska utilities' electricity. Alaska contains about half the nation's coal reserves; coal fuels I 0 percent of utility generation. Alaska abounds with generally undevel- oped energy sources-peat, .,iomass, geo- thermal power gushing from Unalaska Is- land in the Aleutian Chain, tides of 30 feet or more surging up the inlet where British Captain James Cook sailed in 1778 in his search for a passage to the Arctic Sea. Solar power strong enough to grow 5()..pound cab- bages pours in over summer. Class 7 winds, top-rated amon g wind engineers, with a mean speed of more than 2 1 mi ies per hour sweep almost constantly along hundreds of miles of Alaska's western and southeastern coasts. All that, and hydro too. Hydro now pro- vides 10 percent of Alaska's generation, seemingly a small amount in the state with nea.rly half the nation's undeveloped hydro potential Most of it may stay undeveloped for the same reasons -if on a lesser scale -the once-proposed 6,732-MW Ramparts Dam on the Yukon was shelved. It would have mvolved major environmental change, relocation of thousands of Alaskans and long-distance transmission to power markets -unless industries requiring large amounts of electricity moved to the area. Small hydro plants near population cen- ters are, however, acceptable. And they are what Alaska is now developing, along with a major transmission line and waste-heat re- covery projects in villages, while investigat- ing dozens of possible projects. They include two major hydro plants, totalling I ,620 MW, on the Susitna River, which rises in the Alaska Range south of Fairbanks, mean- ders south, then plunges west through can- yons toward the Railbelt and finally south into Cook Inlet near Anchorage. Key Role for Power Authority Alaska's ambitious energy construction and study program centers in the Alaska Power Authority, a state agency established by the legislature in 1976. The authority receives its capital from both . ~gislative appropria- tions and tax-exempt revenue bonds. In 198 I the legislature empowered the author- ity to acquire or construct power projects approved by the legislature. In addition to building and investigating projects, the au- thority administers the state's power project loan fund, po.wer cost assistance program, state rural electrification loan fund and other energy programs. The authority's di- rector, until he resigned Oct. 14, was Eric Yould, an engineer with the Air Force and Corps of Engi.neers before becoming chief executive officer of the new agency in I 978. The authority's construction director, Joe Perkins, started in the dam business ""ith the Army Corps of Engineers. He oversees three hydro projects soon coming on line, the first transmission tie between the state's two large cities and waste-heat recapture in Alaskan villages as well as the Bradley lake hydro project, on the Kenai Peninsula, which is in the preliminary engineering phase. "We're going to rob the waste heat off the diesel generators in those villages," said Per- kins. About 70 percent of the typical small diesels' energy is now lost through radiators, exhaust gases, radiated heat and friction . With jackets, pumps and pipes, the author- ity plans to capture half the waste heat and move it to nearby buildings. The modular system:1 shouJd be operating in at least 13 village; this winter and pay for themselves in three years. Codstructioo Dift'ereot in Alaska Hydro construction in Alaska can be quite different than in other states. For one thing, II PUBUC POWEit November-December 1983 Perkins said, "Nc.ne of the projects under construction are accc:ssible by road. You go in by water or air." Logistical planning is crucial in the ~ mote north country. Del ivery by boat may take weeks. High tide for unluading may rise at midnight Snow removal and cold temperatures present problems, of course,. but Perkins emphasizes the importance of experience in dealing with cold-weather con- struction and northern soil, which varies from peat and volcanic ash to permafrost- frozen layers of soil whose characte.ristics may change after disturbance. Another difference , stemming from re- moteness and lack of interconnections, is that most Alaska hydro pro,iects serve a s.in- gle community, or pe~haps two if they are close by. Last year th.-city of S itka in southeastern A:aska completed the 16.5-MW Green lake project. The $65 million construction was financed by a $10 million state grant, S 15 million loan from the power authority and S40 million in revenue bonds . The 12· MW Solomon Gulch project, completed last year at a cost of about $55 million, serves the Valdez and Glennallen communities east of Anchorage. The proje('t was deveJ.. oped and built by the Copper Valley Elec- tric Association, a rural electric co-op, which sold the project to the power author- ity. The co-op operates the project through an agreement with the authority. The three projects now being built under authority supervision will put oil-fired gen- eration on the reserve list for one cooper- ative and three municipal power systen~s. The 20-MW Terror lake project will pro- vide power for Kodiak Electric Association (KEA) an<: the Coact Guard station on Ko- diak Island, off the Kenai Peninsula south· west of Anchorage. The 22.5-MW Swan la.ke Project will serve Ketchikan, Alaska's fifth largest city, far down the southeastern Alaskan coast. The 20-MW Tyee project will serve Wrangell and Petersburg, located a few islands northwest of Ketchikan. Hydro Replacing Kodiak Diese) Why would the state of Alaska and local ratepayers spend S 189 million on a 20-MW hydro plant on a remote island serving only 3,300 electric customers? Kodiak Electric Association Manager Dave Neese gets the a.nswer every month -a diesel fuel bill of about half a million dollars, costing more than 90 cents a gallon. KEA has a heavy commercial load and good load factor - almost flat, said Neese -because of the fishing industry upon which the locaJ econ- omy depends. Processing plants work round- thc>clock when the various catches come in, and the variety of salmon. crab and shrimp extend the fishing season almost year-round. 12 PUBUC POWEll November-December 1983 An //-foot Robbins t~l-boring machiM, abow and lwlow. sp«ded t~lfng tllrouglt granit~ on Kodiak Island. Kodiak brown #wars. lo-r right, regularly obserw COtUtrvctlon. TM 10-MW Terror Lau Project on Kodiak Island involvu raising the lak~ level 170 fnt with a rock-filled roncret~faa dam. facing po~. left, and tu~~Miingfrom tit~ far end of IM /ak~ fi~ miles to penstocks (/wing installed in July, upper right) abow tit~ ~rhous~. ""'" .,. AJ .. u-.<wll<lrlJ,. The fi rst problem in developing the Ter- ror lake project, 25 miles southwest of the city of Kodiak. was that part of the land required lay ~~tithin the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge, created in 1941 on behalf of the Kodiak brown bear. KEA, environmental organizations and state and federal agencies worked out a land swap providing the bears 27,000 acres of adjacent state land, run by the state under refuge rules. lbe agreement cleared the way for license approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Bids on general construction were opened in April 1982 and construction be- gan six weeks later. The proj ect involves raising the level of Terror lakl" 170 feet with a concrete-faced rockfill dam to increase its storage area, and tunneling from the far end of the lake five miles through a granite mountain. The II· foot tunnel was drilled, mostly through gran- ite, with a tunnel-boring machine-the first ever used in Alaska -whic h bored I 00 to 110 feet in a good day according to EBASCO contract construction manager Pete Arsenault. The tunnel goes to a 3,100-foot penstock. partially above ground, to carry the water down to the powerhouse, where two I 0- MW, vertical-axis Pelton turbines are being installed. Water will be discharged into the Kizhuyak River about four miles upstream from Kizhuyak Bay, whe re boats and sea- planes bring in equipment and supplies. Electricity will be transmitted to the city of Kodiak and the Coast Guard station by 19 miles of 138-kV transmission line. The plant is on schedule; Fran.k Bostwick. power authority project coordinator, fore- sees completion in November 1984. Con- struction bas proceeded practically YCfr· round despite rainfall averaging 74.2 inches annually, including more than 80 inches of snow, as measured at the Coast Guard sta- tion . (Bostwick believes the project site is even wetter.) The wet and the cold can be offset on the island by the balmy 76 F summer days and long evenings fishing and catching Alaskan king crabs. Another favorite sport is watch- ing bears watch construction. Bears and builders both usually maintain respectful Gistan<:e and no bad bear incidents had t.een reported as construction entered its final year. Neese said it is t'lO early to say what ef- fect the hydro will have on his co-op custom- ers' rates, now amounting to 16.3 cents per kWh for the first 700 kWh and 13 cents per kWh on sales over 700. KEA is negotiating an operating and financial arrangement with the authority. Lake AboYe Fjord Being Tapped While the Terror Lake Project modifies a natural impoundment, raising its level to .:tbove the tunnel, the Sl25 million Tyee Lake Project in southeastern Alaska will simply tap a lake which nature perched in a hanging valley I ,400 feet above a glacially carved fjord similar to those in Norway. Water will flow through a I ,200-foot verti- cal shaft, then an 8,000-foot horizontal tun- nel, 10 feet in diameter, to the po·,;;.erhouse, with its two J(}.MW Pelton generators and provision for a third. An open-channel tail- race will carry the ~~ter the quarter of a mile from the powerhouse to the fjord . The project is scheduled for completion in January. Power will go from Tyee to Wran- gell and Petersburg through 69 miles of overhead 138-kV transmission line, initially energized at 69 k V, and 13 miles of subma- rine cable, one of the largest mari~ble projects in the world. Tyee Lake hangs about 40 miles north of the 22.5-MW Swan Lake Project, begun in August 1980 by the city of Ketchikan 22 miles southwest. Ketchikan has 28.6 MW of diesel and hydro capacity now, and swaps power with the Louisiana-Pacific pulp mill which has comparable capacity• according to John Zidalis, Ketchikan Public U tilities •Industrial generation of electricitt in Alaska last year totaled I ,590 gigawatt- hours. more than 40 percent of the amount generated by utilities (3,721 gWb). (KPU) electric superintendent and Swan Lake project administrator. The Swan Lake Project features a 19(}. foot elliptical concrete arch dam, the first of its kind in North America. A single-<:ircuit transmission line will take the power to Ketchikan. KPU's arrangement with th~ power authority provides that, in return fo-1 providing funds to complete project co•t- struction (total cost will be about S96 mil- lion) the authority will receive title to the project and provide enough power for Ketchikan's needs. Southeastern Alaskans talk about possi- ble future transmission ties -between Swan and Tyee lakes; to U .S . Borax Co., which has the world's largest molybdenum deposit (by the Misty Fjords National Mon- ument about 25 miles from Swan Lake); to the Snett.isham Project near Juneau now en- joyed by Alaska Electric Light & Power; or maybe with B.C. Hydro. (All southeastern Alaska is a close neighbor to Canada's Brit- ish Columbia.) The municipa.l power system in Metlakatla, Alaska's southernmost town not far below Ketchikan, has high diesel bills too and its ratepayers would like cheaper hydro. R.W Beck and Associates, w~ich engineered the Swan Lake Project, is completing a transmission study which shows that the logical next step in southeast- em Alaskan transmission is to tie the Swan 13 PUBLIC POWEll November-December 1983 Tit~ 10-MW TjiN Lolu Pro}«t, wlticlt will s~rw Wran~/1 and P~ursburg, nqulrrd no lmpoundm~lll. K'at~r l~aving It will~ divt!rt~d by tuf!Mito tit~ potWrltous~. and Tyee projects with a 45-mile, 138-ltV line. That would pennit load-sharing among Ketchikan, Petersburg and Wrangell. RailbeJt latertie Under Construction But transmission con<truction requires load for justification and the action now is on the An<:borag~Fairbanlcs intertie in the Rail- belt The new 345-kV intertie, 170 miles long, will operate initially at 138 kV. Lines of that capacity already extend from An- chorage into the Matanuska Valley and from Fairbanks to t!le Golden Valley Elec- tric Association's 25-MW coal-fired Healy plant near Denali National Park (w hich in- cludes North America's highest peak, 20,320-foot Mt. McKinley). Two native regiona! corporations own 46 miles of the intertie right-of-way. Entry agreements betw~n them and the power authority this spring cleared the way for con- struction, which began this summer. Com- pletion is sc:bc:duled for the end of 1984. Building the big intertie will be tricky, through bog and pennafrost in some places. Some of the line must be installed entirely by helicopter. But the cost-savings potential to Anchorage, Fairbanks and several inter- connected RECS will be substantial. The au- tbority estimates the $122.5-million project can reduce new generating capacity needs by 125 MW, Both the intertie and the Terror Lake Project are being built under the manago- ment concept, adopted in I gs2, of using dif- ferent firms for engineering and construc- tion, with the authority involved u decision- maker. The authority believes this orpnh.a- tional structure helps contain costs and maint.lin schedules. Tom Stahr, general manager of Anchor- age Municipal Light & Power, said his area will benefit from more reserve capacity and access in emergency to the oil pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. Oil from the piJ» line is tapped and refined a few miles east of Fairbanks. (This is the only commercial tap on the pipeline -some crude is tapped and refined along the pipe:ine for use in its oper- ation.) Golden Valley Electric Association, an REC, bas a 70-MW generatin~ plant right across from the refinery, and Golden Valley is intertied with Fairbanks Municipal Utili- ties System. "There's 100 MW of finn power between the co-op and the city," said Virgil M. Gil- lespie, gClleral manager of the Fairbanks municipal. His system is already weiJ-int~ grated, considering its position less than two degrees south of the Arctic Circle. Emer- gency ties exist with nearby Fort Wain- wright and the University of Alaska, both of which have their own generating plants. The intertie will provide Fairbanks access to rel- atively low-<XJSt gas-generated power from Anchorage. Susima Project Before FERC The intertie fits into Alaska's long-range plan to build two major hydro plants on the Susitna River. The Susitna project has been intensively studied for years by Alaska agen- cies and is now under examination by the FERC. David Wozniak, the power author- ity's Susitna Project deputy manager, does not expect an FERC decision on the authority's application for a Susitna license until early I 986, even though the project is on a fast track at the commission. The project contemplates two high darns. Watana , upstream, would be an 885-foot earthfill structure with six I 70-MW gener- ating units in an underground powerhouse . It would be lluilt first ; if the license is granted and the timetable holds Watana would come on line in 1394. The lower project, Devil Canyon, would consist of a 645-foot doub~urved concrete thin-arch dam and four I ~MW generating units un- derground. It would come on line in 2002. Estimated cost of the entire project is $5.6 billion. Detailed Susitna studies by state agencies and outside experts deal with its many po- Em~ry C. Hill. an R . W. Beck and Assoclaus ~nginnr wllo k!Wiud 011 GNJnd Cl>uiH Dam itt til~ '30s. watcll~s ~lcctriclans install an ~artlt­ ql•alcN~t~ctlon cab/~ an top of Swan Lolu Dam. tential problems -environmental, fish and wildlife impact, silting, design, finance, mar- keting, eartbqua.ke resistance. (An earth- quake registering 6.2 on the Richter scale shook the state while I was there in July. No one was hurt; fallen bottles in bars were the principal casualti~. On Good Friday, 1964, the most severe North American earth- quake ever recorded -8.5 on the Richter scale-devastated parts of the state; 122 persons died in the subsequent tsunami-il great sea wave produced by submarine earth rnover.1ent.) The late A. Starker Leopold, a nationally recognized zoologist who in the '60s helped sidetrack the proposed Ramparts Dam ~ cause of its enonnous and adverse environ- mental consequences, was one of the outside authorities who reviewed the Susitna p~ poscl two years ago. He called it "a very good bet," noting that the narrow impound- ments would not inundate any wide allu- vium or riparian zone important for many types of wildlife . Unlike the upper Yukon. which Rampart would have flooded, no waterfowl nest in the area Some moose and bear habitat would be lost The new impoundment~. be said, should be cleared of stripr 'ld timber so as I S PUIUC POWI!Jt November·December 1983 The proposed /,610-MW Swlt/IQ Project woultt Include two dams, WaJQIIQ, /ej~. upstream, and Devil CAnyon d ownstream. Exunsi~ studies an project impGCt, esp«ially an fisheries, Ira~ b«n under woy for s~ral years. file Alaslul Powrr Authority expects a decision In 1986 anlts appl/c01ian to the Federal E111trgy Regulalory Comm ission for a Sus!tnD lfc:rnse. ,.,_, .~~ ... w..,_.,. ,.,..,. ,_ ,...,,_,, G«JtlwTmtll st«Jm u a 11/u/y mero sourt:e an UIIQ/aslul Island, in the Aleutlall CluJin. wlwre waste lwm u Q/re«Jy pi[Wd b.n.wn bulldinp and Mats a swlmmin1 pool to 80 F. not to trap caribou . All in a ll, Leopold con- cluded, "the upstream effect of t.hose two dams on wildlife would be minimal." Deril Canyon StOtJS Selmoa Leopold noted that -again ur.Jike the Yu- kon -no salmon reach the upper part of the river. They are stopped by De\'il Can- yo n, site of the proposed lower dam. But what happens downstream , in flow release from the dam, would be very impor- tant. Susitna tributaries produce salmon; some of the king salmon caught in Cook Inlet, for example , come out of that area . Make sure, said Leopold, "the flow of water com inK through those darns and down the channel does not adversely affect the survival of the young salmon ... Malee sure also there is enough water downstream to flood the Susitna delta so it is maintained as waterfowl habitat. It is a very important wa- terfowl area." The Arctic Environmental Information & Data Center, a unit of the University of Alaska, is conducting simulation mod ~ling of aquatic impact downstream from the pro- posed Susitna project. The ce:!ter is looking not only at fisheries impact, but also other possibilities such as ice and flooding. Direc- tor Dave Hickok said the answers are "a year or two away." "'n balance," said Hickok, .. 1 think the environmental consequences of Susitna can be handled.'' Alaskans treasure their fish, which pro- vide food, employment, tourists and cash. The power authority is dealing with the fish- eries issue up front, with state, federal and ootside fisheries experts at construction and study sites and what may be the model of an environmental information program for an agency which builds dams. 17 PUBUC POWER NOYembcr-December 1983 . . ' . .. We've set a policy of no .... tloss on fish- eries." said Alaska Power Authority Direc- tor Yould, who started studying the Susitna with the Army Corps of Engineers in 1974. Tom Stahr of the Anchorage publ ic power system said Susitna power in the early '90s would especially help his :i}l!t:r.<. which generates 85 percent of its power with gas from the Kenai Peninsu la . "It will give us more power when gas gets more expensive," he uid. Gas now is cheap -$2 .25 per mcf. But our contracts will be running out after 1994." He cited another reason why interest in Susitna is strong. Jobs. The bloom is off, after the pipeline construction boom. ~ lators arc pressing to get more jobs for Alas- kans . Unemployment is above 10 percent Susitna sits in the lap of the gods -and the FER C. Meanwhile electrification in Alaska means tying together the electric systems within economic reach , completing small hydro plants on schedule so they can begin to pay out, investigating other poten- tial energy soorces, such as small hydro projects at Bradley Lake, Bristol Bay, Bethel and Cordova, and wrapping in waste heat from diesel plants in distant villages. Experience last summer showed the modu- lar was~heat recapture units can be in- stalled quickly. The authority is ready, if the legislature approves. to capture waste heat in 35 more villages .• Municipal Service Diverse In Alaska YOU G ET A ROUGH IDEA who provides elec- tric service in Anchorage (pop . 21 0,000) by looking at the height of the buildings. "Chugach Electric Association has the area spreading horizontally;· said Carolyn S. Guess. chairman of the Alaska Public Utilities Commission (Puc). "Anchorage Mur1icipal Light & Power has the area growing vertically." ARCO Alaska's building in midtown An- chorage rises 22 stories. Sheffiel<! Enter- prises and other investors announced plans for a 32-story downtown hotel in July. The co-op and the muni have both served parts of the cities for years. Rivalry ove r which system will serve particular areas is pretty much a thing of the past. and there is serious talk about a merger of the state's largest rural electric co-op, serving some 55,000 customers, and the municipal, which serves about 19,000 cuslomers. In July, Anchorage Mayor Tony Knowles told the Chugach co-op's president. follow- ing meetings with her and municipal lead- ers, that if the co-op was interested in a merger study he would facilitate it. A merger would require formal approval by co-op members and Anchorage residents. One impetus for the merger is the co-op's rising rates. Another is the prospect of short- term winter-peaking shortages, which mighi be met most cheaply by additional, munici- pally financed gas genera tion. Anchorage Municipal Light & Power is pushing time-of-day rates. especially among its electric heating customer~. now that it has new electronic meters. The 7 p.m . to 7 a.m. rate is only 2.167 cents per kWh, corn- pared with 5.28 cents per kWh from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Alaska legislature provided for PUC regulation in Anchorage because of the dual service and territorial disputes . The munici- pal government manages -and the state regulates-electric, telephone and water service and waste-water treatment. The municipal government also runs the Port of Anchorage and MerriU Field, one of the largest general aviation airfields in the world, handling rrore than 300,000 Hights last year. Tom Stohr. lf'Mrol manopr of AnchOI'ogt Municipal Ught & PoWC'r. t:ht>dc.s load data on OM of tht 16 lt'rminols tit'd into tht' munit:i- pa/'s Ht'Wit'lt-Pat:kard )()()() romputu. His system also has t wo mit:f'tX'omputtrs and a sufNrvlsory rontrol and data acquisition systtm (SCADA}. and is titd into tht city's malnfromt'. "We spend about S I million a year on regulation , but it hasn 't hun us," said John L. Harshman, executive manager of An- chorage Municipal Utilities. There is also co-QP electric service, by Golden Valley Electric Association, within the boundaries of Fairbanks (pop. 5 1,000) but electric service there does not warrant regulation. The co-op serves areas annexed by the city, which provides municipal elec- tric, telephone, water and sewer service, plus district heating. Both Anchorage and Fairbanks discharge some waste heat into water systems to keep them from freezing. Low-grade heat (50 F to 60 F) discharged into the Tanana River at Fairbanks tends to create ice fog where en- gines are operating in the city when ~.c tem- pera tun: drops to -25 F or -30 F. "It's like being in Los Angeles fog," said Fairbanks City Engineer John Phillips, "only it's frozen ." Fairbanks was the scene of one of the most innovative emergency acti:>ns in utility history. At the height of the gold rush in 1906, when the city already had a popula- tion of more than 5,000, flame fro m a den- tist's alcohol burner (he had left his patient to talk to his wife) started a blau which consumed one-fifth of the city. Fearful firefighters abandoned hoses which streamed uselessly, dropping the water pres- sure needed to fight the Hames, wrote How- ard Clifford in ALASKAFEST magazine. With the town's supply of firewood ex- hausted, Volney Richmond-manager of the powerhouse supplying water, electricity and steam -ordered teamsters to race their horses to a warehouse and bring back the bacon . There was a ton of it. in six-to I 0- pound slabs. Richmond and his crew heaved the slabs into t he furnace. The hot grease roared and the water pressure at last rose. Thu s was most of a city saved by its bacon and a good boilerman. VOR • Jt>rry Colp, abow, managt>s Fairbanks Municipal Utilitits' hol-watu di.stricJ-hNtfn~t syslt'm which warms a school romplu, library, n.sldtnct.s and (right, backgrowul) Fairbanlc.Y Lllthuan Chul't:h. Tht U-shapt'd tx;>an.sion loop absorbs tXptU&Sion and ronrractlon of tht pipilfg sys ttm cau.st>d by ttmpuatu't chanps.