In June, BPA’s Olympia District teams moved wood pole structures away from the edge of a steep cliff to increase reliability. 
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The most intensive phase of this work began with the scheduled midnight outage on June 26, with the removal and replacement of two aging 3-pole wood structures along the 115-kv line. 

Monica Sykora, District Operations and Maintenance manager for the Olympia District

In June, BPA’s Olympia District teams moved wood pole structures away from the edge of a steep cliff to increase reliability. The crews demonstrated exceptional coordination and execution, using specialized machinery, to support this critical maintenance and corrective work on the Port Angeles-Sappho No. 1 115-kilovolt line, furthering BPA’s commitment to minimizing unplanned outage time for Clallam County Public Utilty District and its customers.

A midnight mission for uninterrupted service

“The most intensive phase of this work began with the scheduled midnight outage on June 26, with the removal and replacement of two aging 3-pole wood structures along the 115-kv line,” explained Monica Sykora, District Operations and Maintenance manager for the Olympia District. “These structures were identified as needing replacement during annual ‘working patrol’ inspections.”

With the amount of work that needed to be completed in the limited timeframe, an additional line crew from Chehalis was brought in to help complete the structure replacements. 

BPA took full advantage of the outage, using it as an opportunity to complete other crucial work. Substation Maintenance teams performed essential maintenance on disconnects at both BPA’s Sappho Substation and the Port Angeles Substation. The Port Angeles crew received assistance from the Olympia Substation crew to complete the work on ten separate three-phase disconnects at various voltages.

Precision and preparation: the full scope of work

As the transmission line was ready to be returned to service, the Kitsap System Protection and Control team was stationed at Port Angeles. The team conducted in-service testing on the relays, guaranteeing the line protection systems were operating properly.

None of this intricate work could happen without the steady hand of BPA’s Olympia Operations. Operators from Shelton, Kitsap and Port Angeles were strategically staged at three necessary switching locations. This preemptive staging significantly reduced waiting times for crews to begin their work restoring the line to serve customers.

Weeks before the midnight outage, Olympia and Chehalis crews began prep work necessary to safely replace the Port Angeles-Sappho No. 1 line while it remained energized. During this time, they successfully removed and replaced:  

  • Two 3-pole structures on the Fairmount-Port Angeles No. 2 230-kv line\
  • Three 3-pole structures on the Fairmount-Port Angeles No. 1 230-kv line

BPA remains steadfast in its commitment to minimizing outage times for Clallam PUD and its customers. In the fall, we will be installing additional fault indicators to further assist in quickly pinpointing fault locations. Additionally, BPA will implement new vegetation management improvements and tower construction initiativesto further mitigate unplanned outages.

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