In our frenetic modern world, one of the hardest problems is gaining perspective. This is especially true of Alaska’s energy development. Alaskans love to debate prospective megaprojects, like the liquified natural gas pipeline or the Susitna-Watana hydro project. Yet we seldom pause to appreciate what we’ve already built.
The Alaska Center for Energy and Power at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has just concluded a research project investigating how Alaskans built and operated the Railbelt electric grid — our state’s key power infrastructure that connects the Kenai Peninsula to Interior Alaska and serves 75% of the state’s population. Although most Alaskans seldom think about the grid, it is a form of modern magic that allows inexpensive Bradley Lake hydropower to be sent at the speed of light from Kachemak Bay to Delta Junction. On par with the trans-Alaska pipeline system, the Railbelt grid is the single largest machine in Alaska.
Throughout Alaska’s history, we’ve experienced certain “golden ages” of electrification. These electric golden ages occurred at key moments when new technologies unlocked cheaper energy, Alaskans needed more power to expand economic prosperity, and our political leaders worked cooperatively.
Alaskan utilities and the federal government built impressive energy infrastructures for national defense and economic growth. For example, by the end of one such golden age between 1952-1962, more than 50% of electricity was supplied by low-cost renewable energy, namely hydropower.
These golden ages have demonstrated that we can build big things when the stars align. Between 1904 and 2024, Alaskans built over 2.7 gigawatts of generation and 1,600 miles of high voltage transmission lines. Befitting the Great Land, the Railbelt grid is the largest U.S. power system outside of the Lower 48.
This history of electrifying Alaska’s Railbelt accentuates three timely insights.
First, federal spending is essential for Alaska’s power development. Approval of the Alaska Railroad between Seward and Fairbanks created a new template for settlement and networked electrification in 1914. Congress approved the line to “unlock” Interior Alaska and access coal, which the U.S. Navy sought for its Pacific Fleet. Over the next 50 years, federal investment supported the majority of the Railbelt’s new power generation. Between 1940 and 1970, the federal government employed more people and spent more money in Alaska than any other entity.
Today the federal government has awarded over a billion dollars for electricity investments, centered on aging Railbelt generation and transmission. This is the single largest federal investment in Alaska’s electricity system. To put $1.1 billion into perspective, it’s equivalent to what the federal government spent to build the Alaska Railroad between 1914 and 1923 — the very infrastructure which created the Railbelt.
Rather than putting all our proverbial energy eggs in one giant basket, these funds have been obligated to support dozens of projects from Kotzebue to Ketchikan. This direct investment includes a crucial new high-voltage transmission line to bring more cheap Bradley Lake hydropower to Railbelt customers, hundreds of megawatts of new wind and solar farms, utility-scale battery storage, community solar, rural hydro facilities, and the stabilization of existing power lines due to thawing permafrost.
We have an Alaska Railroad-sized opportunity before us, but this funding is in jeopardy. We’ve already seen project cancellations and Alaskans losing their livelihoods. In the face of looming Cook Inlet gas shortages, we can’t afford a lose a single megawatt of cheap power.
Second, we’ve been most successful when building small and medium-sized facilities commensurate with Alaska’s economy and population. While Alaskans love to dream of megaprojects, historical evidence demonstrates that it’s more cost effective to build appropriately sized facilities. Megaprojects like Rampart Dam never came to fruition due to high costs, insufficient load projections, and socio-environmental consequences. But right-sized projects like Eklutna Lake (1955), Cooper Lake (1961), and Bradley Lake (1991) hydroelectric provided cheap and reliable power, and at the same time backboned our modern transmission grid.
The cumulative impact of these projects has been anything but small: Alaska’s investment in hydro and transmission between 1980-1991 has saved the equivalent of 2 billion gallons of diesel since 1991 and saves an additional 65 million gallons every single year.
History demonstrates that we can build out distributed power generation quickly and efficiently, and these projects will pay big long-term dividends.
Third, transmission and power pooling are the key to unlocking Alaska’s most efficient and prosperous energy future. Historically, we’ve focused more on building local generation than regional transmission lines. Yet these long-distance powerlines have proven indispensable for creating a larger grid that has unlocked lower-cost and more diverse energy resources. Lines built to move electricity from gas, coal, or hydropower plants have enabled access to low-cost wind and other resources. The nature of transmission gives it a flexible character that allows for the evolution and diversification of generation.
The history of the Railbelt grid also demonstrates the primacy of public policy and regulation in creating a more efficient power system. While Railbelt utilities have struggled to cooperate, the Alaska Legislature and Regulatory Commission of Alaska have provided indispensable leadership to better unite the Railbelt. We’ve made important strides over the past decade, but the Railbelt remains balkanized and relatively inefficient. Alaskans struggle with higher costs and less reliable service because the
Railbelt is not yet a single load balancing area, new power projects face onerous permitting timelines, and power producers don’t have regulatory certainty. Our power system needs clear policy directives from our elected officials. The grid is a team sport, and we need strong captains — now more than ever.
Philip Wight is an assistant professor of history and Arctic and Northern studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This article is based on research from a new Alaska Center for Energy and Power technical paper: “Electrifying Alaska’s Railbelt: A Generation and Transmission History, 1904-2024.”
