Seward's Mount Marathon hydro plant is making power again after a rehab

Seward's small hydroelectric plant at the foot of the Mount Marathon race trail is generating electricity again, and the city is holding a grand opening there Wednesday.

The Mount Marathon Hydroelectric Plant "is officially operational" and "once again generating electricity for the Seward community," the city's electric department told the City Council in a report for its Oct. 26 meeting.

The rehabilitation upgraded the plant's infrastructure, mechanical equipment and control systems, and getting it running again helps Seward rely less on purchased power, the department said. The city buys power from Chugach Electric Association. The department hasn't said whether the plant will change electric rates.

One of the last pieces was a new control system in the powerhouse. In May, the department said staff were very close to returning the plant to service, with installing and programming that system the main task left. By October, contractor Electric Power Systems was working alongside the department's crew to finish.

The open house is a chance for residents to see the improvements, learn how the plant works and meet the employees and contractors who worked on it, the department said.

The plant comes back online as Seward decides what to do with its city-owned electric utility. In a city survey that closed in September, most respondents favored a local cooperative running it, over options including selling to an existing Railbelt cooperative. The City Council will review the survey results and options at a work session Jan. 11.

A city presentation lists the Mount Marathon plant as a small existing asset next to a much larger hydro project the city has proposed across Resurrection Bay at Godwin and Fourth of July creeks. The city is still waiting on a federal decision on a preliminary permit for that project, the city attorney reported Nov. 5.