The Alaska Intertie transmission line is a 170-mile long, 345 kilovolt (kV) transmission line between Willow and Healy owned by the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA) and operates at 138 kV. The Intertie interconnects Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA), the regulated utility that serves areas north of the Alaska Range, with southcentral Alaska utilities. As an integral part of the interconnected Bulk Electrical System (BES) for the railbelt region, this AEA owned asset transmits Bradley Lake and economy power north into the GVEA system. The economy power is generated by Chugach Electric Association (CEA) and Matanuska Electric Association (MEA). Although power generally flows north, the line is also available for GVEA to transfer energy south if an emergency situation finds the Cook Inlet region short of electric power.
Constructed in the mid-1980s with $124 million in State of Alaska appropriations, there is no debt associated with this transmission line. The Alaska Intertie consists of transmission towers and conductors, transformers at the Healy, Teeland, and Douglas Substations, and system stability devices at three locations that are necessary to allow the Railbelt utilities to remain interconnected.
There are significant cost savings resulting from the exchange of economy energy and sharing of reserve generation capacity between the Anchorage and Fairbanks load centers. GVEA ratepayers achieved savings in excess of $70 million in annual benefit. The average annual savings over the past 15 years is in excess of $40 million.