Ketchikan Public Utilities crews restore connection to hydropower reservoir within 24 hours

Swan Lake hydroelectric dam. (SEAPA photo)

Ketchikan is back on hydropower after a storm briefly severed the community’s connection to a remote electricity-generating reservoir over the weekend. Officials say Ketchikan Public Utilities crews fixed the snapped wires less than 24 hours after they came down.

High winds brought down high-voltage wires near Ward Cove early Friday morning. Because the Southeast Alaska Power Agency’s Swan Lake dam provides roughly half of Ketchikan’s power, KPU spun up generators to make up for the lost capacity.

KPU’s electric division manager, Andy Donato, says crews had the wires fixed by 9:30 p.m. Friday and reconnected the Swan Lake hydropower dam to the community’s grid shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday. Diesel generators went silent soon afterwards. KPU says the brief diesel burn was within the utility’s budget and is not expected to affect electricity bills.