The Alaska House Finance Committee has approved a bill allowing the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority to fund the Sweetheart Lake Hydroelectric Project southeast of Juneau.
House Bill 143 allows AIDEA to provide up to $120 million in low-interest loans to the project.
The Sweetheart Lake Hydroelectric Project envisions an 111-foot-tall concrete dam at the natural outlet of Lower Sweetheart Lake, which would become a reservoir. A two-mile underground tunnel would convey water from the lake to a powerhouse near sea level at the mouth of Sweetheart Creek. Overland and undersea cables would connect the powerhouse to existing transmission lines that link Juneau and the Snettisham Hydroelectric Project.
The dam would generate 19.8 megawatts of electricity. The group backing the dam envisions the project’s power will be used at Kensington Mine and to heat downtown Juneau from a central plant.
HB 143 now goes to a vote of the entire House. Assuming its passage in the House, it will go to the Senate, where a companion bill, Senate Bill 192, has been referred to the Senate’s special committee on energy and is awaiting a hearing.
