Dive Brief:

• Alaska needs about $900 million in upgrades to its transmission system in order to access the full benefit of recent improvements to generation, according to Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) Chair Bob Pickett. 
• The state has already invested $1.2 billion in new generation and generation upgrades in the last few years, but regulators are concerned about potential impact on electric rates in the state.
• An improved transmission system could help the state meet new emissions regulations, allowing newer and cleaner gas-fired power to be sold to Fairbanks' Golden Valley Electric Association, which still uses coal.

Dive Insight:

At a legislative energy roundtable earlier this month, RCA Chairman Bob Pickett told lawmakers that the state needs almost $1 billion in upgrades to its transmission system, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported. The utility system in Alaska is a bit complicated, with the RCA being directed by the legislature and operating without explicit siting authority or the ability to determine when a project is unnecessary. 

Utilities have already sunk about $1.2 billion into cleaner and more efficient generation. But accessing the full benefit of those new resources means building transmission upgrades to move the power and, ultimately, help meet new EPA emissions guidelines. But there is concern brewing about the cost of the generation.

According to Pickett, that largely falls outside of the RCA's purview. “We respond to the filings from the utilities at the point and time when they’re trying to put a new capital expenditure into the rate base,” he told the roundtable, according to the Journal. The commission has also not ruled on utilities' capital plans, he explained, to not overstep RCA's authority.

Alaska will likely request an extra two months to submit plans on how it will meet EPA's tighter emissions restrictions, Alaska Journal of Commerce reported.