Alaska Lawmakers Approve Dam and 600-MW Powerplant

摘要

After 50-plusyears in the making, the Alaska state Legislature recently gave the Alaska Energy Authority approval to build and own a new dam on the Sustina River in the Watana area. The 600-MW hydroelectric dam will be the first of its kind built in the United States in more than two decades. Preliminary work on the $4.5-billion Sustina Hydroelectric Power Project, located in Alaska's rail-belt region about 90 miles south of Fairbanks, puts the project on track for completion in seven years and to provide new energy online by 2025. This plan dovetails with the energy goal of Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell (R): to generate half the state's power from renewable and alternative sources by the same year.