Tips & News - November 2014

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In Alaska, the 115-kVQuartz Creek transmission line connects two hydroelectric dams on the Kenai Peninsula with the ‘rail-belt’—an area containing Alaska’s railroad, its most populous cities and about three-fourths of the state’s population. A fifteen mile section of that line was rebuilt last November, in an area where snow storms regularly drop feet of snow throughout the winter. While not a technically challenging project, Hubbell Power Systems TowerPak ® solution was a great benefit. The hardware arrived on time, properly kitted and… nothing got lost. This is a big deal when you are working in a snowy mountain pass in Alaska in the winter. The Quartz Creek line is 90-miles long and is operated by the state’s largest electric utility—Chugach Electric Association, based in Anchorage, AK. Shawn Wendling, senior project manager, explains thesituation. “The linewasoriginallybuilt in 1962 to connect the Cooper Lake Dam to the rail-belt. In 1991, the state brought online the substantially larger Bradley Lake Hydro Project, which also uses the line. The Quartz Creek line is critical because it is the only transmission line connecting the two dams to the rail-belt and because that generation is our cheapest source of power. It is also important because we use our hydro resources to adjust for system variances, so that gas consumption at our combustion turbines stay on schedule.” The line and its structures are now over 50 years old and the cooperative keeps an eye on structure integrity. In 2007, Chugach performed a detailed helicopter survey, which revealed some deterioration of the wooden, H-frame towers. The cooperative then verified the damage with a climbing survey. “During the summer of 2008, we sent crews down the right-of-way and tested the arms and poles. About 50% of the poles surveyed showed signs of rot,” explains Wendling.

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