Much Ado about Watana Dam: hydroelectric project generates a growing workforce.

AuthorHollander, Zaz
PositionENERGY

A massive dam proposed for the Susitna River is still a decade and many layers of government permits away from producing power for the Railbelt. But already the state's Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project is cranking out jobs.

As of March, there were 385 people contracted to work on Susitna-Watana Hydro, according to Emily Ford, spokeswoman for the Alaska Energy Authority. That doesn't include local officials, Alaska Native Corporation staff, state agency workers and federal government employees devoting time to the project.

Alaskans hold 50 to 60 percent of those jobs, Ford says.

The Energy Authority is the state public corporation tasked by the Legislature with getting a dam built on the Susitna. The Legislature approved $75 million for Susitna-Watana in 2010. The Authority is asking for another $95 million this year.

Project managers asked vendors to track Alaska-based hiring and spending.

"We know that this issue of workforce development, whether or not Alaska has the workforce to make this happen, are discussions that are happening, especially with the Legislature when you're talking about a state-funded project," Ford says.

The Susitna-Watana dam would rise 730 feet about 90 miles upriver from Talkeetna, creating a broad, 42-mile-long reservoir up the remote Susitna Valley, a swath of wildlife-rich terrain popular for subsistence and sport hunting and fishing.

The reservoir would fill with rainfall and snow melt during the spring and fall. Plans call for three turbines to generate electricity to meet Railbelt demand. The reservoir could drop by as much as 200 feet at peak demand times.

As Alaskans weigh the state's uncertain energy future, backers say the Susitna-Watana project would supply about half the electrical power needs of the Railbelt's residents, three-quarters of the state's population.

The whole thing is currently expected to cost nearly $5.2 billion with an as-yet unknown share from the state. The project price tag is a moving target. That $5.2 billion estimate is accurate within 25 percent, according to an AEA report to the Legislature last year.

The earliest this hydroelectric project could start making power is 2024. Until then, project managers say, more jobs are in the works.

Moving a River

To build the dam the state needs a license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, a six-year process. The Authority also needs a Clean Water Act permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for project construction.

This...

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