Chugach Electric project underway in Girdwood
Chugach Electric worksite as seen from Toadstool Drive during the winter weather on Jan. 27. (Photo by Chase Berenson)
By Chase Berenson
TNews Staffwriter
Chugach Electric, the electric utility that serves the Turnagain Arm, is continuing work on the replacement of the Girdwood to Indian transmission line. This work is happening in the wetlands between the Seward Highway and the Alaska Railroad track and intersects Toadstool Drive.
The Girdwood to Indian transmission line covers approximately 12 miles of the utility’s Quartz Creek Transmission Line, a 90.4-mile line that runs from Cooper Landing to Anchorage. This line was built 64 years ago and is reaching its end of life, and Chugach has been replacing the line in sections. Approximately 36 miles of the line had already been replaced prior to the start of the Girdwood to Indian section, and this is the sixth section to be replaced. Once completed, this piece of critical infrastructure will ensure reliability between hydroelectric plants on the Kenai Peninsula and power plants in the Anchorage area.
Because the transmission line is fed by power sources to the north in the Anchorage area and the south on the Kenai, the flow of power into the Turnagain Arm communities largely won’t be directly impacted; while the line is being replaced, Girdwood will still receive power from the south while Bird Creek and Indian will still receive power from the north. The only exceptions to this are two scheduled power outages for Girdwood, one on Thursday, January 29th, from 12AM-4AM and a second on Tuesday, February 10th, from 12AM-4AM.
The Girdwood to Indian Transmission Line Rebuild project started in 2024, and 9.5 miles of it is complete. While driving the Seward Highway between Girdwood and Anchorage, it’s possible to see that the old latticework transmission line structures have been replaced with tubular structures and the new structures are sited on new pads. Beyond these most easily visible improvements, Chugach has also been installing new conductors, structures, guys, anchors, and foundations, plus removing the old equipment.
The last phase of this project is the section connecting Girdwood to the new line. The project plan originally called for this section to be completed between January and March 2025. The work is planned for the wintertime to mitigate potential environmental damage, as the wetlands and other areas of ground are frozen. However, the 2024-2025 winter was unseasonably warm in Girdwood, which prevented the wetlands from reliably freezing and delayed the work to 2026.
Chugach Electric worksite as seen from Toadstool Drive during the winter weather on Jan. 27. (Photo by Chase Berenson)
This phase of work in Girdwood began earlier in January 2026 with the construction of a temporary pole line. The scheduled power outage on January 27th will allow the Chugach crews to disconnect the Girdwood substation from the current transmission line and connect it to the temporary line. During the following ten days, crews will drive piles, set new structures on completed pilings, and pull a new conductor. The second power outage on February 10th will allow the crews to disconnect the Girdwood substation from the temporary line and connect it to the new permanent line. After that is done, Chugach crews will remove the temporary line and clean up the right-of-way, with work scheduled to be completed in March 2026.
The four-hour power outages are scheduled to be longer than is needed for the work to be performed, and Chugach has built in that extra time in case there are unexpected hiccups. The work itself isn’t complicated, but Chugach needs to ensure it’s done in a way that’s safe for the staff to perform the work. The project foreman is very aware of Chugach’s need to provide reliable power to the Girdwood community and to the Alyeska Resort, so Chugach is confident that they’ll be able to complete the cutovers in the allotted time.
Once the Girdwood to Indian Transmission Line Rebuild is complete, this project will help to ensure redundant power access for the Kenai Peninsula and the Anchorage area by allowing power to flow through the transmission lines in either direction. The project will also include a fiber optic cable to be strung across the lines for Chugach’s communication, which will be superior to the current microwave communications system and will allow Chugach to respond to and correct outages faster in the future.
There are still several sections of the Quartz Creek Transmission Line that need to be upgraded. The next two sections to complete are the section between Cooper Landing and Summit Lake and the section between Anchorage and Powerline Pass. It is likely that the section between Cooper Landing and Summit Lake will begin construction in 2027 or 2028. Earlier in January, Chugach had crews working on the structures between Girdwood and Portage, though that work was not part of this project.
Chugach Electric worksite as seen from Toadstool Drive during the winter weather on Jan. 27. (Photo by Chase Berenson)