MEA plans two huge plants for 2015 power

They won't be up and running for another nine years. But the Matanuska Electric Association wants to start taking public input now on possible sites for two big power plants it hopes to build - a 100-megawatt coal plant and 100-megawatt gas plant.

The power plants, which would be located in the MEA service area between Eagle River and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, would be among the biggest in the state. The coal plant would be the largest of its kind with double the generating capacity of the current leader - a mothballed 50-megawatt coal plant in Healy, said Steve Denton, a vice president with Fairbanks-based Usibelli Coal Mine Inc.

Together the plants would cost about $350 million to build and would allow the cooperative to generate its own power instead of purchase it as it does now from Anchorage-based Chugach Electric Association.

MEA spokeswoman Kim Floyd said the utility plans to release a list of possible sites for the plants in mid-December and start holding public meetings in January.

The association hopes to select a site by June, she said.

Holding meetings now may seem early, but she said the cooperative needs a head start because permitting and construction of the plants could take up to seven years. The cooperative wants the plants on line by January 2015.

"2015 sounds so far away, but it's not," she said.

While the plants can be located anywhere in the cooperative's service territory, Floyd said proximity to coal supplies and transmission lines will be important.

Options include two sites or one combined site. Together the two sites would cover at least 165 acres - 150 acres for the coal plant, and a minimum of 15 acres for the gas plant, she said.

She said the cooperative expects to consider a minimum of eight possible sites and possibly up to 15 or more. The MEA board of directors will make the final decision, she said.

Floyd said the new plants would mean more reliable, cheaper power for cooperative consumers.

It would wean the cooperative from Chugach Electric Association, which currently supplies more than 99 percent of the utility's power. The utility is under contract to buy power from Chugach until Dec. 31, 2014. MEA wants the new plants on line by Jan. 1, 2015, Floyd said.

The coal plant would be a hedge against rising natural gas prices, the source of most of Chugach's power, and the plant could also be used to burn other fuels like mixed paper, she said.

The cooperative's plans also call for investing in five megawatts of alternative energy such as wind, geothermal, tidal or small hydropower, she said.

Despite the possible benefits, the cooperative doesn't expect a pass on the idea of building two big power plants.

"We'd be naive to say that we won't face any opposition," Floyd said. "Our goal is to provide every opportunity for involvement."

Among the chief concerns is likely to be impacts on air quality.

The coal plant would rely on a cleaner burning technology known as Circulating Fluidized Bed, but still produce emissions that include sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and mercury. The gas plants would emit carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and nitrous dioxide, Floyd said.

If built, the plants would produce enough power to meet the cooperative's needs through at least 2026, she said. The utility's current average daily load is about 135 megawatts with that expected to grow to about 172 megawatts by 2015, she said. The plants combined with the alternative energy efforts will produce 205 megawatts.

Floyd said the cooperative plans to model its public involvement process after that used by the borough for the proposed prison.

"People will have a chance to hear about it," she said.