About AREA
OVERVIEW
On July 26, 2005, Anchorage's Municipal Light and Power department (ML&P) and Fairbanks' Golden Valley Association, Inc. (GVEA) came together to form a statutory joint action agency or JAA under the name Alaska Railbelt Energy Authority (AREA). Modeled on the successful Four Dam Pool JAA, membership in AREA is open to all cooperative or municipal electric utilities serving Railbelt communities, including the Kenai Peninsula. Chugach Electric Association, Inc. subsequently joined, and it is expected that the City of Seward's electric utility, among other Railbelt utilities, will be near-term future members.
Use of the JAA structure is intended to provide Railbelt utilities with the most favorable circumstances for combining their expertise, resources and borrowing power to undertake major generation and transmission projects to meet the energy challenges of the Railbelt. And the challenges facing us have perhaps never been greater. In the near future, Railbelt utilities must replace the majority of existing generation and transmission assets, which have aged well past their normal lives. Simultaneously, the utilities must provide substantial new plant to accommodate the surge in demand that will accompany the explosive economic and social growth expected over the next few years. Success in meeting these challenges will determine whether the Railbelt will have in place an adequate, reliable and economic energy infrastructure so necessary for maintaining and advancing our quality of life into the future.
The JAA was also formed to serve as a vessel for placement of State-owned electric infrastructure. In 2003, AIDEA/AEA sent a letter to all Railbelt electric utilities stating their interest in divesting the Alaska Intertie, the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project and the Healy Clean Coal Project, and their desire to have the assets go to one entity in which all the Railbelt electric utilities would participate. The JAA is the best structure for cooperatives and municipalities to participate in this new venture. We also stand ready to accept transfer of such publicly-owned Railbelt energy assets of the Alaska Energy Authority as and if the legislature may from time to time request. Availability for such transfers is a statutory authorization under our empowering statute, and is included in AREA's JAA organizing agreement filed with the State of Alaska.
