Golden Valley Electric Association

2006 Annual Report

PDF Icon 2006 Annual Report - PDF (670KB)

A Message from the President & CEO

"Going to bat for you"

President & CEO Steve Haagenson
GVEA President & CEO Steve Haagenson

Golden Valley's Growth and Efficiency

As businesses and population within Interior Alaska continue to grow, GVEA must meet the increasing needs for electric generation.

In 2006, we completed another project sure to improve our reliability; the North Pole Expansion Plant. This plant, next to the existing 30-year old North Pole Plant, uses an extremely efficient LM6000 jet turbine, a variant of Boeing 747, 767 and Airbus A300 jet engines.

The new plant burns Naphtha, a clean burning fuel. In addition, the system captures waste heat and runs it through a steam generator to produce additional power. Should natural gas make its way to the Interior, the North Pole Expansion Plant will be able to utilize that, as well. The plant passed all tests, and is currently generating 60 megawatts of power.

Adding this new power plant is smart because it helps us meet increasing capacity needs efficiently while extending the life of our existing power plants. The North Pole Expansion Plant is the first new generating facility built in Interior Alaska in 30 years.

This year also saw the completion of the new transmission line from North Pole to the Carney Substation in Salcha. Completed five weeks ahead of schedule, this new line improves system reliability, reduces line losses and provides additional transmission of power to and from the Delta Junction area. In just a few short years, Delta Junction has grown from two to twenty percent of GVEA's total load.

"Play ball!" is the umpire’s cry before every baseball game.

It signifies not only the start of the game, but also the effort of cooperation among the team that’s needed to play. With over 60 years of providing reliable power to Interior Alaska, Golden Valley Electric is a seasoned pro at this game.

This past year completes a decade of growth in Interior Alaska. In just ten years, our system grew from 29,630 to 42,023 meters. We weren’t caught off base by this growth; through ongoing professional forecast studies, we saw it coming and planned for it.

To meet the growing power needs of the Interior, we’ve added several capital projects to our system. These include the Northern Intertie, which provides another reliable and efficient connection between Healy and Fairbanks and the Battery Energy Storage System, which provides needed voltage support to the Northern Intertie as well as emergency back up generation.

We relocated the Chena 6 Power Plant from the banks of the Chena River to Delta Junction increasing reliability at that end of our system. And we constructed the North Pole Expansion Plant, the first power plant built in the Interior in 30 years.

GVEA is unique in that we own our own generation and transmission facilities. Outside of Alaska, there are only three other co-ops out of the 900 plus that own their own generation and transmission facilities. With power plants in Healy, Fairbanks, North Pole and Delta Junction, we own and operate 276 megawatts of generation. GVEA also owns a 20 MW share of the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric project near Homer, Alaska. Additional power purchased from Anchorage puts us in the ballpark of 366 MW of available generation capacity.

With our diverse mix of fuel – coal, diesel and naphtha in our Interior plants, hydro from Bradley Lake and natural gas from Anchorage – we can use one fuel to pinch hit for another if the price of one fuel skyrockets.

With the possibility of a gas line in the Interior, GVEA designed the newly completed North Pole Expansion Plant to be able to burn natural gas with a relatively simple retrofit. In the meantime, Golden Valley is actively working to support development of a natural gas supply to Interior Alaska.

Another way we cover our bases is by writing strong contracts that protect members financially. For example, new large industrial members agreed to pay a guaranteed annual minimum amount to GVEA, whether or not they use that amount of power. These “take or pay” provisions guarantee payments to your co-op even if these large consumers do not purchase the power they anticipate. This helps cover the cost of infrastructure we put in place in part to serve these consumers, minimizing risk to GVEA members if energy usage is lower than expected.

But it’s not all about big name players. We continue to improve services for all the members in the stands with innovations like our SNAP program. SNAP stands for Sustainable Natural Alternative Power and links members who want to produce green power with members willing to pay for it.

This spring, we’re launching the Co-op Connections Program, a cardbased program in which local and national businesses offer discounts to GVEA members. The Co-op Connections Card is proof that it pays to be a co-op member. Keep your card handy for savings at numerous locations.

Capital credits represent another benefit of co-op membership. In 2006, Golden Valley refunded over $2.8 in capital credits to members who had service with us in 1986.

At Golden Valley Electric, we’re on the field year-round for our members. We go to bat for you, with every decision we make each day. We’re proud to be your home team.