PSE Newsroom
Puget Sound Energy completes $15 million electric system upgrade to improve customer reliability in the Olympia area
Two-year project increases system capacity
BELLEVUE, Wash. (Oct. 23, 2009) – Puget Sound Energy today completed a $15 million electric system upgrade to improve customer reliability in the Olympia area when the utility reenergized its Thurston and West Olympia substations. The two-year upgrade project entailed converting the voltage of, and in some cases entirely rebuilding, 11 substations and converting the connecting 27 miles of transmission lines from a 55 kilovolt (kV) system to a 115 kV system.
“Upgrading our electric system is an important investment that helps increase system capacity and efficiency,” said Casey Cochrane, manager of local government and community relations for PSE. “The conversion project adds 30 megawatts of capacity to meet the growing energy needs of our customers now and in the future.”
The upgrade will also increase reliability of our electric system. “Replacing aging infrastructure, undergrounding portions of the distribution feeders coming out of the substations, and installing new, simplified switching schemes will minimize outage restoration procedures and increase reliability,” said Cochrane.
PSE began the project in 2007 by rebuilding its Johnson Hill to Pleasant Grade transmission line. PSE converted its Saint Claire, Hawks Prairie, Luhr Beach, and Pleasant Glade substations in 2008. In addition to completing its Thurston and West Olympia substations, PSE also completed its Friendly Grove, Plum Street, Capitol and Olympia substations this year.
For more information, please go to PSE’s Olympia conversion project Web page at PSE.com.
About Puget Sound Energy
Washington state’s oldest local energy utility, Puget Sound Energy serves more than 1 million electric customers and nearly 750,000 natural gas customers in 11 counties. A subsidiary of Puget Energy, PSE meets the energy needs of its growing customer base through incremental, cost-effective energy conservation, procurement of sustainable energy resources, and far-sighted investment in the energy-delivery infrastructure. PSE employees are dedicated to providing great customer service and delivering energy that is safe, reliable, reasonably priced, and environmentally responsible.
Contact information:
Gretchen Aliabadi, 1-888-831-7250