Soaring cost of shore power for Juneau docks due in part to high demand for data centers and EVs, officials told

Electrical equipment prices are rising and availability is scarce, engineer with company designing proposed local project tells Docks and Harbors Board

The Carnival Miracle at Juneau’s lone cruise ship dock with shore power on Sept. 14, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Pat Forgey

For the Juneau Independent

The most recent cost estimate for bringing shore power to more cruise ships in Juneau had its first public airing before Juneau’s Docks and Harbors Board on Thursday, and the first public explanation for what has been called a startlingly high cost.

Bringing electric power to two Juneau-owned cruise ship docks will enable ships to cut the cost of diesel fuel while in Juneau, as well as reducing pollution, according to advocates. Those have been goals in Juneau, and increasingly around the world, for more than two decades.

But it may cost as much as $111 million, twice as much as a city estimate in 2024, according to H3 Engineering Solutions.

The California-based company paused its electrification design work at the 35% completion stage to enable analysis and first review by the Docks and Harbors board

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Vahik Haddadian, an H3 engineer, said higher demand for electrical equipment such as transformers has been one of the factors driving up costs. Transformers are in such short supply they have to be ordered two years before they are needed.

Haddadian said the high demand for electrical equipment is due to things as data centers and growing numbers of electric vehicles.

Completion of this project may take years, he said, in part due to seasonal restrictions on work.

“We're talking 54 months. If you say 'go' now it will probably take four and a half to five years,” Haddadian said.

A key expense for Juneau is the need to provide electrical service to nearly all ships, meaning cables will have to be moved up and down the docks to reach each ship's varying access points, as well as moving up and down vertically to deal with Juneau's notoriously high tidal variations.

“An electrified dock designed only for a specific company's ships of a known size and configuration can be far less expensive to build than a dock that needs to be able to accommodate nearly all current ships or those to be built in the near future,” Haddadian said.

Haddadian likened the ability to move shore power cables to precisely where they are needed to the ability to slide the wall outlet on your kitchen counter to just behind your toaster.

The Juneau design presented would accommodate nearly all ships. In California, new docks are required to accommodate 100% of ships, at a far higher building cost.

“You are lucky you are not in California,” Haddadian said.

Some other costs are specifically designed for or related to the conditions in Juneau, he said.

A new dock next to existing city docks would be needed, calling for new steel pilings to be driven, Haddadian said. An existing uphill road to Alaska Electric Light and Power's transmission lines and equipment is built at a grade of more than 20%, twice the grade that a truck can be expected to haul a 100,000-pound transformer.

“A new road may need to be built,” said Haddadian, “we need to knock that grade at least in half."

In other cases, the uncertain nature of alluvial soil and mine waste rock may complicate construction and drive up costs. H3's design includes a contingency of 30% to pay for unexpected costs, risks, or changes.

Shore power is currently available at Juneau's privately owned Franklin Dock, which was installed in 2001 to provide power specifically to Princess Cruises. Officials in Juneau and beyond hailed the dock as a pioneering achievement, but efforts toward additional local electrified docks in subsequent years have been stalled by cost and other factors.

Many of the specifications at the Franklin Dock have been implemented at other electrified docks worldwide.

“The global standard is exactly what you have here,” Haddadian said. “You have Princess Cruises to thank for that.”

AEL&P was asked what would happen in a situation where Juneau's reservoirs were running low or if another landslide knocked out power sources.

Cruise ships would be among the first to be turned off in such a situation, said Bryan Farrell, the company's chief generation officer.

“We're never going to burn diesel to serve an interruptible power customer,” he said.

Farrell said revenue from selling power to cruise ships would be returned to Juneau's regular customers in terms of lower rates.

There was little public comment on the just-released plan, but Renewable Juneau's Steve Behnke said “this seems like a pretty good step forward."

• Pat Forgey can be contacted via editor@juneauindependent.com.