FRAMINGHAM, Mass. & JUNEAU, Alaska--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 8, 2025--
Ameresco, Inc., (NYSE: AMRC), a leading energy solutions provider dedicated to helping customers navigate the energy transition, today announced its partnership with Juneau Hydropower, Inc. a recently Licensed Utility to develop, construct and operate a 19.8 megawatt (MW) hydroelectric facility at Sweetheart Lake, 33 miles south of downtown Juneau and its transmission and distribution assets.
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The Sweetheart Lake Hydroelectric Facility is designed to generate an average of 116,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) annually, providing a 20% increase in baseload clean hydropower over Juneau’s current electrical generation. The project scope also covers the installation of a battery energy storage system (BESS), over 40 miles of high-voltage transmission infrastructure, including eight miles of undersea cable that will cross Gilbert Bay, and an interconnection substation with the existing Snettisham Transmission line adding energy security to Alaska’s capital city.
This utility will connect underserved, remote areas that have previously relied solely on diesel generation to a reliable, renewable energy source. These components will also enhance local grid reliability and resilience in an area with a history of extreme weather events, including a 2008 avalanche that resulted in power outages that lasted as long as two months. The project is anticipated to increase overall energy transmission in the state by 3%.
“This project is the catalyst for Juneau's sustained growth and prosperity, and we’ve used over 40 years of hydrological data to design hydropower operational parameters so that we can reliably produce energy in even the driest of years,” said Duff Mitchell, Managing Director, Juneau Hydropower. “By harnessing the power of Alaska’s waters, we’re investing in a future where unprecedented events can be weathered with confidence. We’ve worked in harmony with local environmental scientists and stakeholders to create the reliable, resilient power needed by our community.”
Sweetheart Lake is located within the territorial limits of the City and Borough of Juneau, Alaska on the east shore of Gilbert Bay. Sweetheart Lake drains into Gilbert Bay (an arm of Port Snettisham) via Sweetheart Creek. The hydroelectric dam is expected to offset 82,012 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. It will deliver reliable, renewable baseload electricity through a process that does not burn fossil fuels, create pollution, or harm wildlife; and enhances local ecology by utilizing the Sweetheart Lake habitat as a fishery. A true economic and environmental win for Juneau, Alaska, and our Nation.
One of the planned customers is Coeur Alaska, Inc.’s Kensington Mine, located 45 miles north-northwest of Juneau in the Tongass National Forest. The mine is currently powered by onsite diesel generators but is expected to transition to primarily renewable base-load energy to power operations once the Sweetheart Lake Hydroelectric Facility is operational.
“This multi-faceted project is a major milestone for both Alaska, Juneau Power and Ameresco,” said Nicole Bulgarino, President of Federal Solutions and Utility Infrastructure at Ameresco. “We’re proud to be working on this critical hydropower project and major electrical infrastructure that has factored in both community needs and responsible development, in addition to supporting energy reliability and long-term economic growth in line with the vision outlined in the Alaska Executive Order: Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential.”
In addition to development and construction, the project includes a long-term Operations and Maintenance (O&M) contract, ensuring sustained performance.
To learn more about the hydropower solutions offered by Ameresco, visit https://www.ameresco.com/hydropower/.
About Ameresco, Inc.
Founded in 2000, Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC) is a leading energy solutions provider dedicated to helping customers reduce costs, enhance resilience, and decarbonize to net zero in the global energy transition. Our comprehensive portfolio includes implementing smart energy efficiency solutions, upgrading aging infrastructure, and developing, constructing, and operating distributed energy resources. As a trusted full-service partner, Ameresco shows the way by reducing energy use and delivering diversified generation solutions to Federal, state and local governments, utilities, educational and healthcare institutions, housing authorities, and commercial and industrial customers. Headquartered in Framingham, MA, Ameresco has more than 1,500 employees providing local expertise in North America and Europe. For more information, visit www.ameresco.com.
The announcement of a customer’s entry into a project contract is not necessarily indicative of the timing or amount of revenue from such contract, of Ameresco’s overall revenue for any particular period or of trends in Ameresco’s overall total project backlog. This project was included in Ameresco’s previously reported contracted backlog as of March 31, 2025.
Overview of Area Projects and Transmission Map
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans voted to dismiss a war powers resolution Wednesday that would have limited President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct further attacks on Venezuela after two GOP senators reversed course on supporting the legislation.
Trump put intense pressure on five Republican senators who joined with Democrats to advance the resolution last week and ultimately prevailed in heading off passage of the legislation. Two of the Republicans — Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Todd Young of Indiana — flipped under the pressure.
Vice President JD Vance had to break the 50-50 deadlock in the Senate on a Republican motion to dismiss the bill.
The outcome of the high-profile vote demonstrated how Trump still has command over much of the Republican conference, yet the razor-thin vote tally also showed the growing concern on Capitol Hill over the president’s aggressive foreign policy ambitions.
Democrats forced the debate after U.S. troops captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid earlier this month
“Here we have one of the most successful attacks ever and they find a way to be against it. It’s pretty amazing. And it’s a shame,” Trump said at a speech in Michigan Tuesday. He also hurled insults at several of the Republicans who advanced the legislation, calling Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky a “stone cold loser” and Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine “disasters.” Those three Republicans stuck to their support for the legislation.
Trump’s latest comments followed earlier phone calls with the senators, which they described as terse. The president’s fury underscored how the war powers vote had taken on new political significance as Trump also threatens military action to accomplish his goal of possessing Greenland.
The legislation, even if it had cleared the Senate, had virtually no chance of becoming law because it would eventually need to be signed by Trump himself. But it represented both a test of GOP loyalty to the president and a marker for how much leeway the Republican-controlled Senate is willing to give Trump to use the military abroad. Republican angst over his recent foreign policy moves — especially threats of using military force to seize Greenland from a NATO ally — is still running high in Congress.
Hawley, who helped advance the war powers resolution last week, said Trump’s message during a phone call was that the legislation “really ties my hands.” The senator said he had a follow-up phone call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio Monday and was told “point blank, we’re not going to do ground troops.”
The senator added that he also received assurances that the Trump administration will follow constitutional requirements if it becomes necessary to deploy troops again to the South American country.
“We’re getting along very well with Venezuela,” Trump told reporters at a ceremony for the signing of an unrelated bill Wednesday.
As senators went to the floor for the vote Wednesday evening, Young also told reporters he was no longer in support. He said that he had extensive conversations with Rubio and received assurances that the secretary of state will appear at a public hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Young also shared a letter from Rubio that stated the president will “seek congressional authorization in advance (circumstances permitting)” if he engaged in “major military operations” in Venezuela.
The senators also said his efforts were also instrumental in pushing the administration to release Wednesday a 22-page Justice Department memo laying out the legal justification for the snatch-and-grab operation against Maduro.
That memo, which was heavily redacted, indicates that the administration, for now, has no plans to ramp up military operations in Venezuela.
“We were assured that there is no contingency plan to engage in any substantial and sustained operation that would amount to a constitutional war,” according to the memo signed by Assistant Attorney General Elliot Gaiser.
Trump has used a series of legal arguments for his campaign against Maduro.
As he built up a naval force in the Caribbean and destroyed vessels that were allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, the Trump administration tapped wartime powers under the global war on terror by designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
The administration has claimed the capture of Maduro himself was actually a law enforcement operation, essentially to extradite the Venezuelan president to stand trial for charges in the U.S. that were filed in 2020.
Paul criticized the administration for first describing its military build-up in Caribbean as a counternarcotics operation but now floating Venezuela’s vast oil reserves as a reason for maintaining pressure.
"The bait and switch has already happened,” he said.
Lawmakers, including a significant number of Republicans, have been alarmed by Trump’s recent foreign policy talk. In recent weeks, he has pledged that the U.S. will “run” Venezuela for years to come, threatened military action to take possession of Greenland and told Iranians protesting their government that “ help is on its way.”
Senior Republicans have tried to massage the relationship between Trump and Denmark, a NATO ally that holds Greenland as a semi-autonomous territory. But Danish officials emerged from a meeting with Vance and Rubio Wednesday saying a “fundamental disagreement” over Greenland remains.
"What happened tonight is a roadmap to another endless war," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference following the vote.
More than half of U.S. adults believe President Donald Trump has “gone too far” in using the U.S. military to intervene in other countries, according to a new AP-NORC poll.
House Democrats have also filed a similar war powers resolution and can force a vote on it as soon as next week.
Last week's procedural vote on the war powers resolution was supposed to set up hours of debate and a vote on final passage. But Republican leaders began searching for a way to defuse the conflict between their members and Trump as well as move on quickly to other business.
Once Hawley and Young changed their support for the bill, Republicans were able to successfully challenge whether it was appropriate when the Trump administration has said U.S. troops are not currently deployed in Venezuela.
“We’re not currently conducting military operations there,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune in a floor speech. “But Democrats are taking up this bill because their anti-Trump hysteria knows no bounds.”
Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who has brought a series of war powers resolutions this year, accused Republicans of burying a debate about the merits of an ongoing campaign of attacks and threats against Venezuela.
"If this cause and if this legal basis were so righteous, the administration and its supporters would not be afraid to have this debate before the public and the United States Senate," he said in a floor speech.
Associated Press writers Josh Goodman, Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Joey Cappelletti in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with oil executives in the East Room of the White House, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., talks with reporters outside the Senate chamber during a vote at the Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., speaks with reporters at the Senate Subway on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
