North Pole Expansion Power Plant

Purpose

The LM6000 combustion turbine.

Take a tour of the North Pole Expansion Plant.

The North Pole Expansion Power Plant project is helping GVEA meet increasing power requirements. The recent addition of the Strategic Missile Defense System and Pogo Gold Mine, and providing power to Alyeska's Pump Station #9 has increased GVEA's system power demand by over 30 megawatts.

Project Overview

The North Pole Expansion Plant adds 60 megawatts (MW) of generation at the existing 120-MW North Pole Power Plant site. Built in 1975 by Haskell Corporation, this is GVEA's largest generating facility. The project entailed installing a 47-MW combustion turbine with a steam turbine that allows us to generate an additional 13 MW. As demand increases, we can add another combustion turbine, raising capacity at the new plant to 120 MW.

The plant is energy efficient and clean burning. The steam turbine uses the waste heat from the combustion turbines to produce power. The combustion turbine uses water injection combustion controls to control nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, low sulfur fuel to control sulfur dioxide emissions and a carbon monoxide catalyst to control emissions of CO. The plant burns Naphtha, an extremely clean burning fuel, produced at the next-door Flint Hills refinery. The total combined sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from the two existing 60-MW gas turbines and the new 60-MW plant are lower than what is currently permitted for the existing power plant by the Department of Environmental Conservation. If natural gas comes to the Interior, the NPE will have the ability to burn gas.

Funding

• $100 million

Timeline