On January 1, 2014, Homer Electric began generating its own power and became independent from its wholesale power supplier. As the cornerstone of HEA’s generation portfolio, the facility features a steam turbine in conjunction with an existing natural gas turbine to produce a total of 80 megawatts of power.
- The steam turbine uses waste heat to create enough steam to produce 18 megawatts of power without using any additional natural gas.
- Power Dispatch is located at this facility and controls the power generation to match member load and maintains the interconnected system frequency.
- Along with hiring numerous local contractors, a total of 34 full-time, long term jobs were created.
- FUN FACT: The pressure of the natural gas delivered to the Nikiski plant is approximately 1,300 times higher than the natural gas pressure used in homes.