Five Turning, One Still, and a Load With No Number
Terror Lake carries about 85 percent of the generation on the grid Kodiak Electric Association calls isolated.
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The story
Pillar Mountain supplies most of the rest. One of its six turbines is stopped. In March the peak hit just over 31 MW and the diesels nearly ran.
At Spruce Cape the Navy is building what it calls a multi-mission support building and says it will run off the existing grid. The cooperative says the Navy has not told it how much power that will take. The only number on that load is the co-op's own estimate, up to an additional two megawatts.
The cooperative's published numbers, the Navy's denial that it is a data center, and the estimate the co-op had to make itself.
CEO Dan Menth says the diesels could become a possibility as the load grows. Who owes the number on a new load, the customer adding it or the utility planning around it?
What we verified
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Kodiak Electric Association owns, operates and maintains an isolated grid.
Terror Lake Hydroelectric plant provides approximately 85 percent of Kodiak Electric Association's generation.
The rest of Kodiak Electric Association's generation comes from six wind turbines, two flywheels and a battery energy storage system, with diesel generation kept as back up.
Kodiak Electric Association states its aim is to maintain 98 percent of energy sales with cost effective renewable power solutions.
Kodiak Electric Association's Terror Lake hydroelectric project began commercial operation in 1985.
Kodiak Electric Association's Pillar Mountain wind project was initiated in 2009.
Kodiak Electric Association completed the Upper Hidden Basin Diversion Project in 2019.
Kodiak Electric Association achieved over 95 percent of its power generation from renewable sources by 2013 and maintained 98 percent by 2017.
The U.S. Navy is building what it calls a multi-mission support building at its Special Warfare Center Detachment on Spruce Cape in Kodiak.
Navy spokesperson Lt. Samuel Hardgrove told KMXT by email on August 14th that the operational facility is not a data center.
Hardgrove said the new facility will be powered from the existing power grid and will have back-up generators.
Kodiak Electric Association CEO Dan Menth said the Navy has not told the utility specifically how much power the new facility will use.
Kodiak Electric Association expects the Navy's future energy demand could be up to an additional two megawatts at its Kodiak detachment, according to a utility planning document.
Kodiak Electric Association almost had to start diesel generators in March when the peak load hit just over 31 MW.
Kodiak's micro-grid generates nearly 100 percent of its power from renewable energy sources.
Pillar Mountain has six wind turbines each generating 1.5 MW.
One of the six Pillar Mountain turbines has been offline since March of 2025.
Kodiak Electric Association CEO Dan Menth said the cooperative didn't have to turn diesels on but that growing load could make it a potential.
Sen. Dan Sullivan said he had never heard of it, that he thinks it is a rumor, and that if true it is a bad idea he would work to stop.
Sen. Sullivan's communications director Amanda Coyne said by email that the Navy has explicitly confirmed to Sullivan's office that the project is not a data center.
A utility planning document cited by KMXT states that the new facility plus power needs from the expanding Coast Guard base and other island projects will exceed what Kodiak Electric Association can generate from its current renewable sources.
Hardgrove said work at Spruce Cape will include site preparation, paving and site improvements, and construction of the building including electrical and mechanical subsystems.
It is unclear when work on the new Spruce Cape facility will begin.
The Naval Special Warfare Center on Spruce Cape has been in operation since 1987 according to state documents.
Roughly ten years ago the Naval Special Warfare Center Detachment Kodiak completed a 25,000 square foot expansion for SEAL qualification training.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski requested $10,000 from a Senate subcommittee on June 4th for planning and design of a Navy operations facility inside Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak.
In March 2025 two of the six Pillar Mountain turbines were not functioning properly, the northernmost with a bad blade bearing and turbine number 1 with a bad pitch drive.
Each Pillar Mountain turbine generates up to 1.5 megawatts, and when all six are going that is enough to power roughly 450 Kodiak homes.
Kodiak Electric Association CEO Dan Menth said the Terror Lake hydroelectric turbines typically generate roughly 85 percent of Kodiak's energy and the Pillar Mountain wind turbines usually supply the rest.
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