Blue Lake Hydro Plant Back on Line

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Created on Friday, 14 November 2014 15:37

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The $145 million Blue Lake Hydro expansion project hit a major milestone Thursday after one of the three new generators in the power plant was switched on. After about two years of construction and weeks of testing, the new plant now will be generating electricity permanently 24 hours a day, barring any downed power lines or equipment failures. 

Clif Stump, left, and Nick Welsh, right, project engineers with Barnard Construction, hold the banner that was used for a ground breaking ceremony at the site of the new Blue Lake power plant in 2012, as a ribbon is cut to mark the beginning of permanent power generation at the new plant Thursday. Pictured are, from left, Stump; Andrew Pharis, construction manager with McMillen; Dean Orbison, city generation engineer; Mayor Mim McConnell; City Administrator Mark Gorman; Jessica Stockel,  McMillen project spokesperson and Welsh. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)

A central control room in the new facility (that also controls the Green Lake hydro plant and the city’s diesel generators) will make any power outages shorter since problems are easier to diagnose and fix, said senior plant operator Frank Rogers during a plant tour Thursday. With the old system, he said, it would take a flashlight and possibly an hour just to find the cause of an outage. 

Blue Lake is now the main power source for Sitka. In normal operating conditions, two of the three generators will be running at any given time and one will be in reserve. 

Sitkans currently have a surplus of electrical capacity after more than a month of conserving power to allow Blue Lake to fill. City Generation Engineer Dean Orbison estimated that there should be over 35 percent more hydro power generation capacity than there is demand for during  the winter, when the demand is highest.

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