Golden Valley issues its first energy emergency alert, warns of possible outages

Golden Valley Electric Association issued its first-ever Energy Emergency Alert on Monday. The Interior co-op went straight to Level 2 after a generating unit failed unexpectedly while two others were already offline for planned maintenance.

Level 2 means GVEA's backup power is down to a single generation unit. The utility said there's a greater risk it won't have enough electricity to meet everyone's needs, and it's asking members to make bigger cuts in use and prepare for possible controlled outages.

Crews have been working around the clock to restore the failed unit, the utility said Tuesday. GVEA expects the situation to continue through Wednesday.

If supply drops to Level 3, GVEA would activate its Controlled Load Shed Program: rotating outages of 30 to 60 minutes moving through designated zones. The utility called that step "a last resort" meant to prevent full system failure. Critical services, including the hospital, fire department and police, won't be affected if controlled outages become necessary, GVEA says.

GVEA was writing rules in September for when it would start rotating outages, and it said it has hit conditions matching Level 1 and Level 2 alerts many times over the past year without a formal way to tell members. The utility has struggled to meet demand since losing access to natural gas-generated power from the Anchorage area because of Cook Inlet gas shortages. At a GVEA board work session, staff reported the co-op lacked enough generation in reserve on 236 of 250 days, which they called a measure of reliability risk, not a sign it could not serve members.

GVEA's board has approved pursuing more baseload generation capped at $80 million and a battery system estimated at about $130 million. After loan forgiveness and tax credits, members would pay about $18 million for the battery.

GVEA asks members to delay laundry, dishwashing and other big loads and to avoid charging electric vehicles. Members can check the current alert level and look up their load shed zone at GVEA's Energy Emergency Alert page, and should update their email and cell numbers to get outage texts.