Electrical Power for Valdez and the Copper River Basin-1981

lntertie:With the deciSlon by the Copper Valley Electric Association toconstruct the transmission line between Glennallen and Valdez, theopportunity exists to intertie this area with Anchorage-Fairbanks areavia the Glenn Highway. This POSsibility was considered under the AlaskaPower Administration's (APA) 1978 Upper Susitna Project Power MarketAnalysis. Based on the load growth assumptions and costs at that time,transmission costs were estimated at 3.3 cents/kWn. However,reevaluation based on 1980 price levels and revised load forcasts showtnat tne cost per kWn nas significantly increased. A more detaileddiscussion of this alternative appears in the following section.So 1 i d Wa s t e :Power generation from solid waste has severely limited prospects inthe study area. Typically, successful solid waste operations are locatedin regions of hign population density where economies of scale pennit theefficient gathering, transport, and incineration of solid waste. Inaddition, sucn operations playa dual role by relieving populationcenters of solid waste, a less acute consideration for smallercommunities. The Valdez-Glennallen region does not produce a sufficientvolume of solid waste to enable practicable power generation. This iseviaenced oy similar findings in a recent study made for the Municipalityof Anchorage. Although the burning of solid waste on an individual basismay have some substitution potential for heating, it is not expected tobe a significant factor during the forecast period.Oil Pipeline Turbine:- - - --A pressure reducing turbine (PRT) has been proposed for installationin the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline. This turbine would produce electricityby taking advantage of tne nead drop as the pipeline descendS TnompsonPass. This project, as originally conceived, would have an installedcdpacity of 9 MW Dased on the pipeline design flow of 2 million barrelsper day and would produce approximately 63,000 MWH of energy per year.However, tne pipeline is currently pumping at about 1.5 MBD and tnere areno plans to increase this in tne future. Based on this output the PRTWOUld produce approximately 7.4 MW of power and 52,000 MWH per year ofenergy. These figures are based on a plant factor of 0.8.Hydroelectric Power:A large number of potential hydroelectric sites are available in thestudy area; however, most have been eliminated due to size, location, orenvironmental proulems.The Stage II report, completed in April 1978, considered sites in theValdez area only. Sites considered included Gold Creek, Sheep Creek,Wortmann Creek, Silver Lake, Solomon Gulch, Allison Lake, Unnamed Creek,Mineral Creek, and Lowe River. Of these only Solomon Gulch and AllisonCreek demonstrated tentative feasibility.25