Anchorage Assembly to weigh $700,000 contract for early waste-to-energy plant design

The Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday will consider paying HDR, Inc. up to $700,000 for early design work on the city's proposed waste-to-energy plant. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's administration recommends approval.

The contract is on the consent agenda for the Oct. 20 meeting. Consent items are typically routine, such as bid awards, and are not required to be set for public hearing.

The plant would burn household trash to generate 25 megawatts of electricity and extend the life of the city's only municipal landfill, according to the municipality. Its overall cost range is still being developed, according to the Assembly memorandum.

HDR would produce enough preliminary design for the project's construction and operations managers to estimate building and operating costs. Those estimates would feed the project's Plan of Finance, which the project team aims to bring to the Assembly in 2027.

The memo says this first-phase award does not authorize or guarantee HDR any later work. The city would first evaluate the project's feasibility and Plan of Finance, and further design, permitting and implementation would each return to the Assembly for approval.

Four firms answered the city's request for proposals. HDR ranked first with 419 points, followed by Ramboll Americas (349), Enercon Services (330) and WSP Canada (281), according to the recommendation of award from the project's program management office.

The contract would use 2026 capital funds and, if approved, run through June 30, 2027.

Anchorage's 2026 legislative program separately asks the state for $2 million from the Renewable Energy Fund for waste-to-energy predevelopment work. The city has also asked Congress for about 50 acres of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson land next to the landfill as a site for the plant, Alaska News reported Aug. 6.