Tips & News - April 2014

Wendling points out, “As the project engineer, the first things that come to mind for any project are design, permitting, and materials delivery. I asked myself, which is going to take longer? In this case, we started the permitting early and the design wasn’t too complicated. But make no mistake, because we are on the far end of the world, supply chain logistics never fall far from our gaze.” Permitting and Recreation Overall, permitting took about a year. The State Department of Natural Resources controls a little over a third of the land. The US Forest Service controls the rest. “You could say the whole right-of-way is an environmentally sensitive area, but the main challenge was recreational use. The middle five miles of the project are in one of the prime winter recreation areas for South Central Alaska. One side of the road is used by snow machines and the other side offers exceptional, backcountry skiing. There were a lot of recreational users out there, who ‘recreated’ right where we needed to be working. So, there were a lot of stakeholders to respond to and bring into the process,” says Wendling. A large portion of the project’s success can be directly tied to Alcan Electric and Engineering, Inc. in Anchorage, AK— the company that built the line. Alcan’s communication and outreach efforts to the various recreational user groups were extremely helpful. Thoughtful Design On the positive side, the lengthy permit process provided ample time for Chugach to carefully plan and design the new towers. The cooperative worked with a local design firm Dryden & LaRue, Inc. (D&L), Anchorage, AK. Since a long-term planning study called for the transmission line to be at 230-kV instead of the existing 115-kV, the line was rebuilt and insulated for 230-kV. Also, considering recent record snow falls, some towers were significantly increased in height. “We added between eight and 20-feet, where needed, to provide increased clearance during heavy snow falls. Before construction, the average height of the structures in this section was 65 feet. It is now approximately 95 feet,” reports Wendling. To limit structure weight, about a third of the wooden structures were replaced with steel. Wendling explains, “We wanted to make sure this project could be built using helicopters, if necessary. The biggest wood poles needed could weigh as much as 9,000 or 10,000 pounds. So, we substituted steel poles. As it turned out, Alcan Electric did not use a helicopter. Because of the substantial snowfall during the winter 2012-2013, Alacan was able to build roads and drag in the materials.”

All photos provided by Chugach Electric Association

A view down the right-of-way of a 90-mile, transmission line that runs from Kenai Peninsula to Anchorage Alaska

Although in need of repair, the towers were still intact. “Interestingly, in the winter of 2011-2012, before we started working on the line, we had a very bad winter. In total, over 11 feet of snow fell in Anchorage, but, I’ve got to say, in the mountains we got more than that. We had structures bent over like a fishing rodwith a King Salmon on the end, but they held despite the deterioration. It is a testimony to the quality of wood we used back in the day— clear, good grained, old- growth wood. That winter, we lost one arm and one pole— that was it,” mentions Wendling. Careful Planning Knowing that a substantial amount of work needed to be done, the cooperative divided the project into immediate and long-term repairs. In 2008 and 2009, Chugach operations personnel addressed a list of critical jobs to ensure short- term reliability. During that same period, planning and engineering identified and prioritized the line sections that were in the worst shape.

The first goal was to replace the most critical, 15-mile section, which happened to cross through the toughest terrain. (The 90-mile line crosses a mountain range, bends around a body of water, jumps back through the Chugach Mountains, to find its way to Anchorage.) In Alaska, public funding is available at times to help mitigate the cost of rebuilding critical electrical infrastructure, but the process to obtain public funding is indeterminate. In some cases, funding is obtained in a calendar year. In this case, funding for the Quartz Creek rebuild was a two-year effort. Chugach got the money in July of 2011 and immediately began the permitting and design process. Even at this stage, the cooperative knew that the work would have to be performed during the winter months, when snow roads could be built. (Snow roads mitigate environmental impact and provide access.) It was clear from the beginning that the rebuild was going to be challenging.

Sturdy, high-profile Tower Pak ® Transmission Kits in the staging area

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