Energy authority board asked to make $142.3 million for Cook Inlet cable its top request

The Alaska Energy Authority board was asked Thursday to make $142.3 million in state funding for the Cook Inlet PowerLink its top request to the Alaska Legislature. A proposed resolution would express "strong support" for that amount in state participation. An Oct. 21 staff memo says the authority has proposed it as a fiscal 2028 capital request and that the resolution, if adopted, would go to the Legislature with it.

The authority says the 38-mile subsea cable would add a second transmission link between the Kenai Peninsula and the Anchorage and Mat-Su region, addressing "a critical single point of failure." It would initially move 100 megawatts in either direction, with potential to expand to 200. The authority says the cable would also help deliver more power from the Bradley Lake hydroelectric expansion and strengthen transmission serving military installations.

The authority estimates the project, including overland lines and converter stations, at $413 million. A $206.5 million federal grant requires a 100 percent match. The memo from Jim Mendenhall, the authority's director of owned assets, says about $64.2 million in state appropriations and Bradley Lake bond proceeds has been secured, putting about $270.7 million in committed funding toward the total. The resolution says the remaining $142.3 million is needed to satisfy the federal cost-share requirement.

The work so far is early. The memo reports about $5.6 million spent or committed. The marine survey of the priority route, from Beluga to Nikiski, was about 85 percent complete as of Oct. 21, with an alternative route from Beluga to Moose Point. As Alaska News reported Oct. 16, the authority is seeking responses from cable makers. Those are due Dec. 15 and will inform updated cost estimates. The authority is targeting completion in December 2031, and the federal grant requires the project to be finished by Aug. 31, 2032.

Curtis Thayer, the authority's executive director, told the board in July that a new administration will submit its own budget in February. The Legislature will then decide on the request.