Making Every Drop Count

Southeast Alaska Power Agency

Southeast Alaska’s Low-Cost Wholesale Power Provider

DISCOVER

ABOUT

We speak waterpower

SEAPA is a wholesale electric provider delivering wholesale power to our member utilities in Southeast Alaska.

As a joint action agency of the State of Alaska and authorized under Alaska State law, SEAPA operates, manages, maintains, and improves power projects, generation and transmission facilities.

SEAPA’s mission is to safely provide clean, reliable, low-cost wholesale power to the communities we serve.

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HISTORY

Pioneering
Hydropower

In the 1940's Ketchikan was powered by expensive diesel. When the City's population nearly doubled after a large pulp mill moved to the community in the 1950's, Ketchikan Public Utilities (KPU) considered Swan Lake for a hydro dam, but it was not developed.

In 1977, the City of Ketchikan authorized an engineering firm to investigate the feasibility of developing Swan Lake as a major hydro resource and after determining the benefit/cost ratio, the City authorized final design of the project.

When oil prices skyrocketed in 1979-1980 the State of Alaska was in a financial position to infuse large amounts of money into the development of renewable energy projects, which led to the construction of four hydroelectric projects between 1982 and 1985 by the APA (Solomon Gulch, Tyee Lake, Swan Lake, and Terror Lake).

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MEMBER COMMUNITIES

Alaska has more than 40% of the entire nation's surface water resources.

SEAPA sells its generated power to three communities, referred to as member communities. The power generated is sold to the communities’ utilities as outlined in the Power Sales Agreement, at a wholesale power rate. The member communities, Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Wrangell, benefit from the power at both facilities through the Swan-Tyee Intertie.

FACILITIES

Abundance & Beauty

Southeast Alaska Power Agency currently owns two hydroelectric facilities, interconnected by a 57 mile transmission line known as the Swan-Tyee Intertie (STI).

The power generated at each facility is sold to the Member Utilities at a low wholesale power rate. The wholesale power rate has been maintained at competitively low rates as a result of state of the art Renewal, Replacement, Operations and Maintenance programs.

The wholesale power rate is more that just a kWh; by way of advancements in technology, hydrological studies, reliability measures and streamlined operations, increased hydro sales equates to less diesel generation.

SWAN LAKE

The Swan Lake Hydroelectric Facility is located on Revillagigedo Island at the head of Carroll Inlet, about 22 air miles northeast of the City of Ketchikan.

This dam serves as a reservoir with a surface of 1,500 acres at normal maximum elevation and usable storage capacity of over 100,000 acre-feet.

TYEE LAKE

The Tyee Lake Hydroelectric Project is located at the head of Bradfield Canal, approximately 40 air miles southeast of Wrangell.

Tyee Lake is a natural lake used as a storage reservoir with 15 square miles of drainage area, 52,400 acre feet of active storage, and a normal water surface elevation of 1,398.3 feet at full pool.

SWAN-TYEE INTERTIE

The Swan-Tyee Intertie is a connection from the Swan Lake Hydro Facility to the Tyee Lake Hydroelectric Facility.

It serves as a significant component of the Southeast Alaska Electrical transmission system and provides long-term benefits in development of Southeast’s substantial hydroelectric potential.

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Alaska has more than

3 MILLION LAKES, 12,000 RIVERS, THOUSANDS OF STREAMS & CREEKS, & AN ESTIMATED 100,000 GLACIERS

Hydroelectric power is Alaska’s largest source of renewable energy, supplying about 25% of the state’s electrical energy in an average year. Alaska has a proven track record for developing successful hydropower projects and has it’s eyes towards the future as Southeast Alaska is rich in potential for even more hydroelectric power possibilities.