MEA secures easements for new 115-kV transmission lines as Mat-Su's growth keeps outrunning its electrical infrastructure

Matanuska Electric Association secured easements Wednesday to build new 115-kilovolt transmission lines in the Pittman Road and Church Road areas, adding capacity to a service territory whose customer base has grown faster than its grid was originally built to support.

The Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office issued a term easement for a line along Church Road and Shampine Lane in Wasilla. The Alaska Department of Natural Resources issued a preliminary decision the same day for a related easement near Palmer (ADL 234630). Both are part of MEA's Fishhook to Pittman project — approximately 22 miles of new line and two substations serving the Fishhook and Meadow Lakes communities, both areas of substantial residential growth.

The state easement covers about 1.52 acres (1,324 feet long, 50 feet wide) for an overhead transmission line and poles. MEA requested an easement term that would run for the life of the infrastructure, consistent with typical transmission line easements on state land. Public comment closed June 6.

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough has been Alaska's fastest-growing borough for years, adding residential development at a pace that has consistently outpaced central Anchorage. New subdivisions, commercial sites, and infrastructure projects — like the multi-tract Connolly Homestead decision the borough's Platting Board approved earlier this month — pull additional load onto a transmission system that wasn't designed for the densification the borough is now seeing.

MEA's project description names three goals for the Fishhook to Pittman line: improve regional electric reliability, provide redundancy for existing substations, and increase capacity to serve growing Mat-Su loads. The project sits within a broader period of Railbelt grid investment, including AEA's $206.5 million DOE grant for the Cook Inlet HVDC submarine cable — both part of the same question of whether the Railbelt's physical grid can keep pace with what Alaska is asking it to do.

The Trust Land Office listing does not yet provide parcel IDs, easement width, or detailed maps for the Church Road easement.