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 Avalanche knocks down Snettisham tower 3-5 |
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Juneau lost power shortly before 2 pm, Monday, after an avalanche knocked down one of the transmission towers that carries power from the Snettisham Hydro Facility to Juneau. While diesel generation restored power to the city, a crew flew a helicopter along the Snettisham line, where they discovered the fallen tower. Tower 3-5 is a thee-pole structure, and is one of the structures destroyed by last spring's avalanche. An engineering consultant from Dryden & LaRue in Anchorage, and an electrical contractor from City Electric in Anchorage, flew to Juneau this morning to meet with AEL&P engineers to help evaluate repair alternatives. Both of these firms were involved in the repairs last spring. Active avalanche monitoring and control was being conducted this winter by Alaska Avalanche Specialists from Juneau. The increased avalanche hazard had been noted and the contractor had attempted to conduct controlled blasting on Sunday, but the weather did not allow them to go higher than mid-mountain. |
 Photo of structure 3/5 on the Snettisham transmission line. |
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Frequently Asked Questions 1. How much will emergency rates be? We don't know yet. Our emergency COPA rates are based on the cost of fuel, and we haven't purchased fuel in six months. We'll get a better handle on this when we get fuel bids back from the suppliers in the next day or two. 2. When will emergency rates go into effect? Will I be back charged for all the electricity I used when it was really cold a couple of weeks ago? We plan to do it the same as last time. If we need emergency COPA rates, our plan is to start those 30 days after the avalanche so people will only be paying emergency rates for the energy they used after the avalanche, not before. 3. How long will it take to repair? It's too early to tell how long it will take. We have consultants flying in today to review repair options with us. The good news is that only one transmission structure is destroyed. The bad news is that the weather is worse and the days are shorter than last spring. The number one priority is for the safety of the crews that will be working up there. We can't put anyone on site if there is an ongoing avalanche danger. 4. How much will the repair cost? Will ratepayers have to pay for it? It's too early to tell how much it will cost. We'll have a better idea when we have a repair plan. The repair cost will be added into rates, but we expect it will be less than last year which were around $3 million. And last year's repairs will only increase rates about 0.1 cents per kwh, or 1%.
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5. This was one of the same towers that was destroyed just nine months ago. Why didn't you do anything to protect it? Since last spring's avalanche, we've had a contract in place with Bill Glude and Alaska Avalanche Specialists to monitor the snowpack every day. If the danger of avalanche increases, they get in a helicopter and drop explosives onto the snow to bring the snow down in smaller avalanches -- rather than have it all come down in a large more destructive avalanche. In fact, they identified that as the weather warmed up this past weekend we would have a greater chance of avalanche. They did a bombing run on Sunday, but were only able to go halfway up the mountain due to weather. It was too cloudy to get all the way up to the top to drop bombs. They cleaned out what they could, but it wasn't enough. They were going to try again on Monday to finish the bombing if the weather allowed, but it never lifted. The snow that came down was a natural avalanche. They did not do any bombing Monday. 6. But why didn't you build protective structures? A longer-term fix for the transmission line has to be properly engineered and designed. We retained a consultant last summer to analyze the various alternatives and design a longer-term fix. He is still working on that study. When it is complete we will choose an alternative and build it.
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