Northern Intertie Project

Current status

The Northern Intertie was energized on Friday, October 10, 2003. GVEA members began saving money immediately as a result of reduced line loss. Line loss is the energy lost in the process of transmitting power over transmission and distribution lines. The estimated reduction will save Golden Valley and their members $1.9 million annually.

The route map depicts the four sections of the Northern Intertie project. The slide show includes photos of various phases of the construction.

Pictures

Please view our northern intertie construction slide show.

Route Maps: GIF file (56KB)

Download detailed illustration. (PDF, 356KB)

Purpose

The 97-mile, 230-kilovolt transmission line between Healy and Fairbanks provides critically needed reliable, low cost energy from GVEA's Healy Power Plant, the Anchorage area and, when operational, the Healy Clean Coal Plant.

Participants

• Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority
• Golden Valley Electric Association

Funding - $81 million

• State of Alaska (Railbelt Energy Fund)
• Golden Valley Electric Association

Points of Interest and Statistics

To protect the tundra, access to the Tanana Flats is restricted to winter when there is one foot of ground frost and one foot of snow. In addition, crews construct ice roads for equipment access to the work sites.

The Wilson Substation, which is the tie for the Battery Energy Storage System, the Northern Intertie and GVEA's in-town 138 kilovolt (kV) line, was energized in mid-May.

To date, project contractors and subcontractors have employed approximately 195 workers on the various sections of the Northern Intertie.

The project required a total of 540 towers.

Design elements, such as terrain, soils, and cost dictated the type of structures

Structure type

• 486 "X" towers
• 27 deadend towers
• 27 "Y", single-pole towers, and wood structures

Structure height

• Two (2) 182-foot structures at the Tanana River crossing
• Fifty (50) over 100-foot structures
• 434 remaining towers average 75-foot structures.

Timeline

1987	Railbelt utilities sought funds from the Railbelt Energy Fund for construction/upgrades of Alaska interties
1993	Legislature appropriated $90 million for the Healy-Fairbanks and Kenai-Anchorage interties
1994	Environmental permitting, route selection and design work began
1998	Bureau of Land Management issued an Environmental Impact Statement and selected the Rex/South Route
1999	Department of Natural Resources held public hearings and issued a proposed Best Interest Finding
2000	Clearing began
2001	Clearing 80% complete, ice road built and tower construction work began
2002	Tower construction expected to resume by the end of the year
2003 Fall	Project complete and line energized.