KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
Kayla Desroches/KMXT
Last year, the Kodiak Electric Association received a permit to extend its Terror Lake hydroelectric project, and it’s now selected a contractor.
The expansion would catch snow melt and rain and transport it to the Terror Lake reservoir to increase its energy capacity. According to a KEA press release, the installment should boost the annual hydropower production by about 33 million kilowatt-hours, which is roughly 25 percent more energy.
The contractor, Kiewit, is the same company that built the original Terror Lake Hydroelectric Facility in the 1980s.
As stated in the release, KEA planned for the diversion during the initial construction in the ‘80s, but the extra leg of the project was considered unnecessarily pricey for the need at the time.
Kiewit is scheduled to start construction in June and the diversion should be up and running by fall of 2020.
