April 2, 2026, Seward Folly Staff

The City of Seward’s electrical department has a strong interest in hydroelectric power. It’s a proven source of reliable energy. Upgrades at Mt. Marathon are on track for the smaller project to be up and running this spring, and the department now has its eyes on the Godwin/Fourth of July Creek system. Penstocks up high on both systems could lead to a nearby turbine generation plant with a potential output of approximately 30 megawatts (MW). Seward’s demand is 10-12 MW – excess power would be sold back into the Railbelt system.  

The department has letters of support from a consortium of players in the city, including the Seward Chamber of Commerce, the SeaLife Center, the Alaska Railroad, the Qutecak Native Tribe, Alutiiq Pride, and the Seward City Council. 

Seward’s team is looking ahead at possible funding for the project. Federal tax credits under the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) and Direct Pay programs could contribute up to 50% of the total project cost, with an additional 25% through state grants and possible public-private partnerships, and 25% of the project funded by the city. Under this funding strategy, the project could deliver competitively priced power to Seward and the Railbelt from the get-go. 

Stumbling blocks 

A few hurdles stand in the way of achieving such a goal, according to Seward Electric Department’s Taylor Crocker. The city must also secure the water rights for the project from the State of Alaska, receive the preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to study the project, receive approval from affected federal agencies (USFS, USF&W, and NMFS, etc.) to ensure it passes environmental muster, and receive the FERC license to construct and operate it. 

At a town hall meeting this past fall, as reported by the Folly on December 18, local Bob Linville asked Chugach Electric,  “Is Chugach aware if there’s a flow meter in Godwin Creek near Mt. Alice?  If there’s any work at all, I was wondering if you would be collaborating?”

Chugach replied, “Yes, absolutely, this is a must. Community outreach is the first step in any development,” but denied knowing whether Chugach has an interest in the local creek. 

Linville replied, “The attraction of keeping our utility is that we could tap into our local hydro power potential; it would irk me that we wouldn’t be able to develop our own hydro power within a mile of our town,” pointing out that other utilities should respect the city’s right to develop energy in the proximity of its own system.

FERC records indicate that Chugach filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on February 6, 2026, just two months after that meeting, seeking a preliminary permit to obtain exclusive rights to develop the Godwin/Fourth of July Project. There is no record of Chugach communicating their intent to develop these resources with the city or the general public, despite their assurances that they didn’t have an intent to develop a project on the edge of town and would communicate clearly if they did.

According to Crocker, Seward filed a notice of intervention with FERC on March 26, well within the required regulatory window. They plan to file a competing preliminary permit application on April 6, again within the prescribed filing period. 

Seward Electric intends to request that FERC deny Chugach’s application and instead award the preliminary permit to the City of Seward for project development. If granted, the city would have 48 months to complete the preliminary permit process, including financing, design, and cost estimation, all part of the project’s technical and financial feasibility. Then they would submit a license application. Quarterly progress reports would be required to be submitted to FERC throughout this period.

Path forward

Hickey and Crocker stated they “are hopeful that Chugach and other utilities will work together on a host of other possible hydro projects in the South Central region and that a collaborative process can be established to help share resources and execute all of the feasible small hydro projects in the Railbelt, rather than squabbling about this particular project.”

“The ultimate goal is to get reliable, affordable energy into houses and businesses in the Railbelt,” they said, a common refrain in all of the town hall meetings this past year.