The city power department has begun upgrading Wrangell’s power infrastructure, focusing on priorities approved by the Borough Assembly in March.
The upgrades are expected to be part of a long and expensive process, estimated to cost between $3 million and $3.65 million over five years by consultants at Electric Power Systems. Fixes include replacing aging poles along Church Street, Case Avenue, Zimovia Highway and Cow Alley, and replacing the existing H structure and substation supporting the grid.
“The guys have been hard at it,” said Wrangell Municipal Light and Power superintendent Clay Hammer.
Throughout the past week workers have been replacing poles along Church Street. Some have been easier to pull than others, such as one near the street’s intersection with McKinnon Street.
Hammer recounted the challenge there had been to make the swap without destroying the landscaping and flower beds in front of Rooney’s Roost. The crew momentarily transplanted some of the begonias and rhubarb, and secured the lilac bushes before uprooting the old pole and sliding a new one in its stead, all with a minimal impact.
“That was a major accomplishment there,” Hammer said.
Poles in position, Hammer said the next step will be to get the wires changed. Tentatively set for June 12, that project will likely require an extended outage. Affected homeowners and businesses will be notified in advance, but the outage will likely last between four and six hours that morning.
“It’s going to take some time, but it’s going to be one of those deals where there’s really going to be no way to break it into smaller projects,” he said.
Most components are now at the ready for the H-structure and substation replacement, which Southeast Alaska Power Agency agreed to partially fund. At the meeting of its board in February, the regional power provider agreed to put up half the cost for the project, or around $90,000.
“Everything’s kind of falling into place with that project,” said Hammer, who added work is awaiting delivery of the new wiring.
The site still requires considerable ditch work, as well as some surface preparations like brush removal. Once undertaken, Hammer predicted there may be a few brief diesel runs necessary, for a few hours at a time. Outages may occur, but he felt confident they could be avoided outright.
“Most likely we’ll be able to double up the feeders,” he said, bypassing the substation being worked on entirely.
Due to project requirements at the Swan Lake dam expansion, SEAPA’s regular line maintenance has been postponed to September, if at all. Each year, usually in May or early June, Wrangell ordinarily has to switch over to its diesel generators for a week while work is conducted on the regional transmission lines. This year may be an exception, with a brief outage instead planned for part of today while a transformer is given an inspection.
Of the power infrastructure improvements approved by the Assembly in March, the most significant project was to be the addition of another diesel generator. The electric study had found Wrangell would need another backup generator in the foreseeable future, both to meet peak needs and fulfill capacity obligations to SEAPA.
Rather than being installed with existing generators at the power plant on Case Avenue, the new generator would be stationed near the water reservoir. Hammer explained this would have several benefits, such as its proximity to Feeder 3 – powering up the city’s essential services, like the hospital and water treatment plant – and relative seclusion.
Tentatively pushed back to 2022, the installation of a new 2 or 3 MW generator was estimated to cost $2,700,000. By that point WMLP’s reserve fund would be expected to have reached just over $3,000,000.
Hammer is now thinking a replacement can be acquired for considerably less, saving the city up to $700,000 by buying a generator second-hand. Perusing a list of government surplus materials recently, a generator about fitting the city’s needs turned up.
“It was just pure happenstance that I came across it,” Hammer said. He touched base with the seller, and while that particular model had a considerable amount of wear and tear, Hammer learned a number of similar generators with less use could be found that were still affordable.
EPS’ initial quote had been for a new diesel generator with 2 or 2.5 MW capacity, costing $1,000,000 or more just for the generator. After installation and integration into the system, the cost could be three times as high.
While the city has no plans to purchase a new generator ahead of schedule, Hammer pointed out it was good to know they could be obtained for less than expected.
“It was very encouraging. Where the market is right now there are some generators with low hours and competitive pricing right now,” he said.
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