Seward weighs coal, other power sources

City officials in Seward are entertaining the idea of using coal to fuel an electricity generation plant in the Southcentral Alaska coastal town.

But Seward's city council is also investigating the merits of tidal waves and wind and other possible sources of power to replace all or part of the electricity Seward currently purchases from Chugach Electric Association, an Anchorage utility.

Chugach's power has proven to be unreliable when winter avalanches knock down power lines and cause blackouts. To address the problem, city council members have begun to investigate alternative-power projects.

Coal-fired plant proposed

Anchorage developer Marc Marlow has proposed to build a coal-fired power plant in the community of 2,600 people. Seward already hosts coal shipments from Usibelli Coal Mine in Healy, brought to town by rail and loaded onto barges bound for South Korea.

Marlow is redeveloping the decades-vacant MacKay Building, dubbed the "pink elephant," in Anchorage. He wants to lease five acres in Seward from the Alaska Railroad Corp. and build a 20-megawatt coal-fired power plant on the site, he told Seward officials. Seward would then purchase power from the plant.

Seward Mayor Vanta Shafer said July 19 that Marlow's idea "is one of many power generations options we're looking at."

"I'm going to a presentation on tidal energy tonight and other council members are getting information on several options, including wind generation," Shafer said. "Believe me when I say the council is nowhere near ready to make a decision on this."