Matanuska Electric Association (MEA), Palmer, Alaska, recently revealed plans for a $400-million, 180MW gas-fired power plant that could be built on a 70-acre land tract north of Anchorage. The new plant could either be built by a contractor and owned by the utility or built privately by an independent power producer that would sign a power-supply agreement with the utility, according to MEA. The association hopes construction will begin in April 2012. The utility's current contract with Chugach Electric Association, Anchorage, from which it purchases the majority of its power, expires December 2014.
A second major power plant project in the planning stages is the Southcentral Power Project, a $350-million, 180MW to 270MW combined-cycle gas-fired plant in south Anchorage that would be built by Chugach Electric and Municipal Light and Power (ML&P), Anchorage's city-owned utility. Chugach would own 70% of the project. Chugach Electric and ML&P would finance their respective portions of the project separately. The goal is to have the plant in operation by 2015.
