Southeast Alaska Power Agency History

The Four Dam Pool hydroelectric projects (Terror Lake, Solomon Gulch, Swan Lake and Tyee Lake) were initiated by the Alaska State Legislature in 1981 as part of the Energy Program for Alaska in response to the increasing and uncertain costs of diesel generation.  These facilities and related transmission lines were placed into service between 1981 and 1985.  A Long Term Power Sale Agreement was signed in 1985 between the State of Alaska and the member utilities receiving power from these State-owned hydro facilities.  The member utilities were Kodiak Electric Association, Copper Valley Electric Association and the Cities of Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg.

In 1995, the member utilities began discussions with the State of Alaska to purchase the projects.  This effort culminated successfully on January 31, 2002. As a result of this sale, The Four Dam Pool Power Agency (FDPPA) was created.  The proceeds from the sale of the projects were used to establish the Power Cost Equalization Endowment which is used to partially offset the very high electricity rates in many of the smaller communities in the State. 

In 2006, the member utilities of the FDPPA began discussions to restructure the Agency whereby one or more projects could be sold back to the member utilities.  This effort was also successful and on February 24, 2009, the FDPPA sold or transferred the Terror Lake project to Kodiak Electric Association and the Solomon Gulch project to Copper Valley Electric Association. 

The name of the Agency was changed to the Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) to better reflect the geographic location of the remaining projects (Swan Lake and Tyee Lake).  In addition, SEAPA is completing construction of the Swan-Tyee Intertie which has been a long-planned project and will interconnect the Swan Lake and Tyee Lake projects.  As a result, all of the remaining member utilities (Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg) will be interconnected for the first time and the hydroelectric projects can be more efficiently operated and existing surplus power from the Tyee Lake project can be used to displace diesel generation in Ketchikan.