Electrical Power for Valdez and the Copper River Basin-1981

Historical LoadsGeneralValdez and Glennallen utility loads divide into residential, commercial/industrial, and other. "Other" includes street lights, public buildings,utility use, and losses. The only load that may be considered industrialis the CVEA supplied non-pumping requirements at a few pipelinepumping stations. Table IV-1 lists CVEA loads from 1970 through 1979.Energy use, customers·,. and peak demand are shown. The "other" sector isnot listed separately, but the totals include it. Peak demand data isnot metered by sector, so only annual totals can be shown. Some earlieryear customer information is not available for this study as designatedby '~A" in the table.Self-supplied industrial loads were non-existent until 1977 when pipelineoperation commenced. Table IV-1 shows this Valdez terminal steamplantload.Energy Growth RelationshipsTable IV-2 shows historical growth rates and energy Use per customer.The unsettlednati)re of the area is depicted in growth rate variancesand extremes. Valdez residential energy, for instance,. jumped from nogrowth in 1973 to 135 percent in 1975. Other extremes were less, butsimilar. Business depressions followed cessation of pipe deliveries in1972 to 1973 and pipeline construction in 1977. Extreme economic upturnfrom 1974 to 1976 co-existed with pipeline construction.Examination of Table IV-2 also shows some lack of correlation betweencustomers and energy use. Valdez residential energy growth peaked ayear earlier than residential customers, for instance. Customer growthdropped off more sharply than energy. Pipeline construction employmentcharacteristics can help explain some of this. It is only necessary topoint out he.re, however, that these facts emphasize the difficulty inprojecting the historical data.The energy use (kWh/customer) statistics show the variations too. Ameasure of constancy can be noticed until 1975, the year of peak pipelineconstruction. Then, a large usage increase occurred--much more soin Valdez than in Glennallen. After 1975, residential use moderatedsomewhat but at a higher level than before 1975. A large jump in theGlennallen commercial/industrial sector in 1977 reflects the utilityassumption of pipeline pumping station non-pumping loads.12