2:56
It’s one thing if you’re driving around town, says AEA Executive Director Curtis Thayer.
“But if you’re driving from Homer and you want to go to Anchorage, you’re going to want to know where those charging stations are, especially the one in Anchorage to recharge in order to get you back home.”
The AEA plans to install level three chargers. They’re more expensive than other charger types but they can charge some cars in under an hour, whereas others might need an entire night.
Thayer says they plan to place stations within five miles of the highway every 50 to 100 miles. The federally suggested range is 50 miles.
3:13
When the Swan Lake Fire tore through the Kenai back in 2019, it heavily damaged a 39-mile stretch of power line in the northern part of the peninsula known as the SSQ Line. The damage cut off the flow of electricity from the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric facility, near Homer. Which in turn impacted ratepayers with all six Railbelt utilities – including Golden Valley’s, whose board of directors OK’d a 20 percent rate increase a little over a year ago.
Smoke billows after firefighters set backfires in an area north of the Sterling Highway and power-transmission lines in September 2019 to burn vegetation and slow the growth of the Swan Lake Fire. The fire burned167,164 acres on the Kenai Peninsula.
Earlier this month, Alaska Energy Authority acquired a transmission line that delivers power generated by the Bradley Lake hydroelectric project to GVEA. It is the least expensive source of power available to GVEA.Â
The transmission line is referred to as the SSQ Line and was formerly owned by Homer Electric Association. It runs between the Sterling Substation and the Quartz Creek Substation on Kenai Lake, but was damaged in the Swan Lake Fire in 2019. It took four months to restore service, during which GVEA customers saw an increase in the cost of power.Â
Now that AEA owns the line, possible upgrades could benefit all Railbelt customers, including GVEA. John Burns, GVEA president and CEO, said the acquisition will allow GVEA to get more Bradley Lake power, âwhich is the cheapest source of power for GVEA.â