Drawn to Scale, Except the Demand
One column tallies 119.7 megawatts becoming 120.0. The other tallies about 4,700 acres. No unit joins them.
The deck
SWIPE, SCROLL OR CLICK A SLIDE TO GO FULLSCREEN · 10 SLIDES
The story
The megawatts are Bradley Lake. The Alaska Energy Authority has asked FERC to divert Dixon Glacier meltwater into the lake and add a 0.3 MW turbine. AEA projects about 38 percent more average annual generation. More water, not more hardware. Comments close 28 August at 5:00 p.m. Eastern.
The acres are twelve Air Force parcels at JBER, Eielson and Clear, offered for AI data centers. Robert Moriarty cited "the growing demands of the AI industry."
That offer names no megawatts. No published number bridges the two records.
Slides carry the fishwater valve in section, the capacity bar against the generation bar, and the twelve parcels.
So is that blank a hole in the record, or just not the Air Force's number to publish?
What we verified
26 CLAIMS, EACH RE-FETCHED FROM ITS SOURCE BEFORE THIS DECK SHIPPED
The Alaska Energy Authority's non-capacity amendment application for the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project is docketed at FERC as Project No. 8221-124 and was filed on June 30, 2026.
FERC published the notice soliciting comments, motions to intervene and protests in the Federal Register on August 3, 2026.
Comments, motions to intervene and protests on the Dixon Diversion amendment are due by August 28, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
The amendment proposes a new diversion dam to divert meltwater and surface runoff coming from the Dixon Glacier into Bradley Lake.
The amendment would raise Bradley Lake's normal maximum operating pool elevation by approximately 16 feet through spillway modifications and raising the dam embankment.
The amendment would install a 0.3 megawatt micro-hydro turbine in one of the Bradley Lake Dam's fishwater release valves.
The project's installed capacity would rise from 119.7 megawatts to 120.0 megawatts, a gain of 0.3 megawatts.
FERC's notice states the amendment would increase the project's average annual power generation by approximately 38 percent.
The Alaska Energy Authority estimates the Dixon Diversion construction cost at approximately $400 million.
The Alaska Energy Authority's schedule for the Dixon Diversion is an estimated three years of study and permitting followed by three years of construction.
The Dixon Diversion would be located five miles southwest of Bradley Lake and approximately 27 miles northeast of Homer on the Kenai Peninsula.
From 1995 through 2020 the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project averaged 392,000 megawatt hours of generation annually.
Bradley Lake provides approximately 10 percent of the total annual power used by Railbelt utilities.
The Bradley Lake project began operating in 1991 and delivers power at a cost of about four cents per kilowatt hour.
The Alaska Energy Authority board of directors endorsed a financing package for constructing the Bradley Lake Expansion Project on July 23, 2026.
The Department of the Air Force is offering approximately 4,700 acres of underutilized land across Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Eielson Air Force Base and Clear Space Force Station for potential AI data center development.
The Air Force has identified twelve parcels at the three Alaska installations for potential AI data center development.
Robert Moriarty, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, said the Alaska land offer supports the growing demands of the AI industry while generating value that directly supports Air Force missions.
Petroleum News reports the Dixon Diversion would move water to Bradley Lake through a 4.6 mile connecting tunnel.
Petroleum News reports the expansion would produce enough additional renewable energy to power up to 30,000 homes.
Petroleum News reports the expansion would displace around 1.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year for power generation.
Petroleum News reports that five Railbelt electric utilities receive Bradley Lake power across the transmission system.
Air Force solicitation AFCEC-26-R-0006 for AI data center development at the three Alaska installations was posted April 10, 2026, closed to proposals June 29, 2026, and was archived July 14, 2026 with no award posted.
Alaska Public Media reported that Enstar has already had to turn away new large scale customers to focus on supplying existing ratepayers.
Enstar president John Sims said that if Southcentral Alaska has a winter like last year, the region is going to have significant challenges and will likely see rolling blackouts.
Applying the application's approximately 38 percent projected increase to Bradley Lake's 392,000 megawatt hour historical annual average implies roughly 149,000 additional megawatt hours a year, a figure calculated by Alaska.Ai rather than published by any party.
Beats
This article is on Alaska data centers · Alaska power and the grid · Alaska land and permitting for AI · Defense and federal AI in Alaska · Alaska AI policy and legislation. Each beat page keeps every decision and every article on that subject in one place.