HomeMy WebLinkAboutAlaska Intertie Program Fact Sheet 04-2019-AKIALASKA INTERTIE
170‐mile long
AEA‐owned
transmission
line
Connecting
Fairbanks
utilities with
southcentral
utilities
CURRENT STATUS
At the direction of the Alaska Legislature, the Regulatory Commission of Alaska completed
an evaluation of the existing Railbelt transmission network in June 2015. This evaluation
resulted in five recommendations designed to aggregate the existing transmission assets in
a manner that will allow economic dispatch of power in the Railbelt. Under this concept,
electric load in the Railbelt would be served by the least cost source of power available at
any given time. In order to facilitate this goal, the RCA directed the IMC to revisit the
operating and reliability standards to determine if a uniform set of rules can be agreed
upon by all of the Railbelt utilities and AEA. The operating committee has met with HEA
(non‐participant) to reconcile the IMC reliability standards and HEA’s reliability standards
with the goal of adopting a uniform set of standards for the Railbelt. That reconciliation is
complete.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
The Alaska Intertie transmission line is a 170‐mile long, 345kV transmission line between
Willow and Healy that is owned by AEA and operates at 138 kV. The Intertie interconnects
Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA), the regulated utility that serves areas north of
the Alaska Range, with southcentral Alaska utilities. As an integral part of the
interconnected Bulk Electrical System (BES) for the railbelt region, this AEA owned asset
transmits Bradley Lake and economy power north into the GVEA system. The economy
power is generated by Chugach Electric Association (CEA), Matanuska Electric Association
(MEA), and Municipal Light and Power (ML&P). Although power generally flows north, the
line is also available for GVEA to transfer energy south if an emergency situation finds the
Cook Inlet region short of electric power.
Constructed in the mid‐1980s with $124 million in State of Alaska appropriations, there is
no debt associated with this transmission line. The Alaska Intertie consists of transmission
towers and conductors, transformers at the Healy, Teeland, and Douglas Substations, and
system stability devices at three locations that are necessary to allow the Railbelt utilities to
remain interconnected.
There are significant cost savings resulting from the exchange of economy energy and
sharing of reserve generation capacity between the Anchorage and Fairbanks load centers.
GVEA ratepayers achieved savings in excess of $70 million in annual benefit. The average
annual savings over the past 15 years is in excess of $40.
GOVERANCE AND UTILITY PARTICIPATION
The operation of the Intertie is governed by the Alaska Intertie Agreement, entered into in
1985 and amended in 1991, 2011, and again in 2014. The parties to this agreement are
AEA, GVEA, ML&P, CEA and MEA. Each of these entities also has a seat on the Intertie
Management Committee, which has responsibility for operating and managing the Alaska
Intertie.
APRIL 2019
QUICK FACTS
Improving
reliability of
the Railbelt
system
FOR MORE INFO
CONTACT:
INFO@
AKENERGYAUTHORITY.ORG
907.771.3000
WWW.AKENERGYAUTHORITY.ORG
REDUCING THE COST
OF ENERGY IN ALASKA