Back to top
For immediate release
November 6, 2002 at 2:12am
For more information, contact
Patti Bogan, 762-4736

Chugach transmission line trips

One of three transmission lines serving the Matanuska-Susitna Valley faulted at 11:30 p.m. Nov. 5. The fault was on Chugach Electric Association's 230-kilovolt transmission line that runs between the Point MacKenzie and Teeland substations.

The two other transmission lines include the Alaska Intertie fed from Golden Valley Electric Association from the north and a third transmission line fed from Anchorage around Cook Inlet.

GVEA was unable to maintain the additional load and was forced to open the line to avoid voltage collapse in Fairbanks. The third line was open within the Matanuska Electric Association system. This configuration allowed some of MEA's customers to survive the outage, but cut off power to MEA customers north of the Knik River. No Chugach members were affected by the outage.

Chugach began the restoration process and re-energized the line from Point MacKenzie at 11:47 p.m. and by midnight had re-energized the Teeland Substation.

A preliminary investigation indicates that someone had contacted the line in the vicinity of the Knik and Goose Bay roads and caused the fault. Chugach continues to investigate the incident.

Chugach is the largest electric utility in Alaska, providing power for Alaskans throughout the Railbelt through retail, wholesale and economy energy sales.