DOE is putting up to $150 million toward a 223-mile power line meant to keep Alaska’s grid running

The Department of Energy announced on Oct. 5 that it intends to provide up to $150 million in Defense Production Act funds toward the Beluga-Healy Transmission Project, about 223 miles of new line that would link Southcentral and Interior Alaska. The Alaska Energy Authority sponsors the project, which carries a preliminary planning estimate of about $418 million.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright tied the grant to national security. Assistant Secretary Katie Jereza, who leads the department’s Office of Electricity, gave the practical case: “Alaska’s weather is unforgiving, and its grid needs another way to keep power moving.”

Defense Production Act money and the $418 million estimate

According to the Energy Department’s announcement, the federal share is up to $150 million, paired with $268 million in non-federal funds for a combined figure of about $418 million. The department calls the total a preliminary planning estimate, and the $150 million is a ceiling: the phrase in the release is “up to.” The department links the money to $1 billion appropriated for energy projects deemed critical to national security.

Curtis Thayer, executive director of the Alaska Energy Authority, told the Alaska Beacon that the announcement was a surprise and that the federal money will likely cover engineering, planning and permitting, according to the Beacon’s report. The remaining $268 million could come from other federal grants, the state or Authority loans, Thayer said. The authority, which describes itself as the state’s independent energy policy and development office, owns the existing Alaska Intertie.

The Beluga-to-Healy route and the 1980s intertie

The new line would run about 223 miles between Beluga in Southcentral Alaska and Healy in the Interior, producing a second high-voltage connection between the two regions. DOE says the line would serve roughly 75 percent of Alaska’s population, support nearby military installations, lower electricity costs and improve reliability.

The need follows from how the current link works. As the Beacon reported, the existing intertie dates to the 1980s and mainly carries lower-cost hydropower and natural gas power north to Fairbanks; lately it has also carried coal-fired power south to Anchorage during natural gas shortages. A second line would give the Railbelt, the string of utilities between Fairbanks and Anchorage, a redundant path and let utilities buy the cheapest power available from either end, including while the old intertie is upgraded.

The Beacon added that most Alaska military bases take power that flows through the intertie, a point the state’s congressional delegation stressed while seeking federal money. Added capacity in both directions, the Beacon noted, could also encourage wind and solar plants, which supply cheaper but intermittent power. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich III each issued statements backing the grant.

Presidential Determination 2026-10 and the defense rationale

Defense Production Act money is unusual for a transmission line, and the department’s release points to the presidential determination signed April 20, 2026, under Section 303 of the Defense Production Act of 1950. That memo, addressed to the Energy Secretary, builds on Executive Order 14156, which declared a national energy emergency, and calls the nation’s grid capacity “dangerously limited.”

The determination lists the equipment it covers: transformers, transmission lines and conductors, substations, high-voltage circuit breakers, power control electronics, protective relay systems, capacitor banks and electrical core steel. It finds those items “essential to the national defense.” The release cites the determination as the authority for the award, and Wright said the project would support what he called the major U.S. military expansion underway in Alaska, as well as mining and resource development. He credited Sen. Sullivan with arranging an August briefing from the Alaska Energy Authority that brought the project to the department’s attention.

The Office of Electricity, which DOE describes as working to stabilize, optimize and grow the electricity system, lists transmission deployment, permitting and planning, and grid upgrades among its focus areas, the portfolio from which Jereza’s quote on the Alaska line comes.

Vice President JD Vance announced the funding on the Monday of the release, according to Fox Business, saying the administration “will help develop more than 200 miles of new transmission line.” He was scheduled to campaign in Fairbanks that day for Sullivan, Begich and other Republicans ahead of the November general election, the Beacon reported. Fox Business noted that Vance’s quoted remarks referred to $400 million, while the department’s release states $418 million.

A line that does not break ground until after 2030

The award is a commitment to fund, not a line under construction, and the timetable is long. Thayer told the Beacon that construction is not expected until after 2030. The Authority has planned the second intertie for almost five years, and it intended to proceed only after other parts of its statewide upgrade program, including high-voltage links for the renovated Bradley Lake hydroelectric project, were operating.

The announcement gives no start or completion date. What the Energy Department has put on the record is the ceiling of $150 million, the 223-mile length and the Beluga and Healy endpoints; the other $268 million has no named source yet, beyond Thayer’s list of possibilities in the Beacon’s account.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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