Seward council approves $11.8 million in shore power contracts for cruise dock

Seward will buy a 12-megawatt battery system to power cruise ships plugged in at its dock. The Seward City Council approved nearly $12 million in shore power contracts Monday, funded through a federal grant and a required 10 percent match from The Seward Company, for a project that lets docked ships run on electricity from shore instead of their engines.

The council approved both contracts on its consent agenda, which passes listed items together without separate discussion, by roll call. One resolution authorizes up to $9,730,013 to Kronus Engineering for a 12-megawatt, 24-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system. The other authorizes an initial design-build agreement, under which one firm both designs and builds the work, with GHEMM Company, up to $2,127,700, for the shore power and cruise ship dock expansion project.

City Manager Kat Sorensen said the city "didn't want a cruise ship to come in and draw power immediately from the community." "We wanted to make sure that anytime a cruise ship was plugged in, nobody in this room and nobody in this community really notices," Sorensen said.

The EPA selected the Port of Seward for $45.7 million through its Clean Ports Program in 2024. The city has said the grant covers 90 percent of an estimated $50.8 million project cost.

Costs have moved since the application. "We applied for the project in 2024, and a lot has shifted in the financial landscape," Sorensen said. The battery site moved from railroad property to Fort Raymond. The team is reevaluating the whole project to stay cost-effective for federal funds and for utility ratepayers, she said.

Brian Solan, a vice president with Ameresco who works on the city's shore power team, said lead times and prices have risen sharply since the grant award. Vendors' hard prices now give the team "line of sight on actually constructing it for the grant amount," he said.

Solan said two numbers remain outstanding: GHEMM's preliminary design for its portion, from Ship Avenue out onto the dock, and a construction price for the cable circuit from Fort Raymond down to Ship Avenue. If both come in where the team expects, Solan said, the project can be built at or below $50 million with some cushion. He said more procurement resolutions would then come before the council.