Construction Updates

High cost of vandalism

Chugach Electric personnel recently spent two days and thousands of dollars repairing a transmission line that was shot by vandals. The damage to the line, between the Portage and Hope substations, was discovered during a routine inspection.

To repair the line, a Chugach operations crew had to first clear snow to provide access to the area that was damaged. Chugach personnel were then able to switch the line out of service, allowing a construction crew to make the necessary repairs. The entire effort took the better part of two days.

Vandalism to electric facilities is both dangerous and expensive. In this incident, a bullet compromised the integrity of the line, and if the line had failed before the damage was discovered, the system could have experienced a major outage. During the time of the repair work, the transmission line connecting Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula was out of service, preventing generation from the Bradley Lake Hydroelectric Project from reaching Anchorage, which adds to the overall cost of repairing the line. 

Vandalism is costly both in dollars and resources. Chugach urges all Alaskans to respect the power system and not use electric wires for target practice.

University Substation 115 kV breaker replaced

Chugach recently replaced a failing 115 kV oil circuit breaker with a new SF6 gas insulated breaker.  The installation required the bus to be de-energized while a crane was used to remove the old breaker and set the new one.  Commissioning will take place in December and put in service.  This breaker connects the University Substation with Anchorage Substation which is currently fed by the transfer breaker.

Streetlights getting LED upgrade

Chugach has launched an LED streetlight conversion program, working to change all of its street and area lights to the more efficient and environmentally-friendly lights. Chugach has about 5,000 lights in its service territory, and the goal is to have them all swapped out by the end of 2019. The utility annually responds to over 1,000 reports of street and area lights being out of service. As we respond to each of those calls, crews are replacing the older high pressure sodium lights with LED. In addition to being less costly to maintain, LED lights produce less light pollution as their light is more directional and focused. The new LED fixtures are also compatible with the control technology used by the Municipality of Anchorage, allowing lights to be dimmed, turned off or flashed during emergencies to assist police and first responders.

New equipment at Daves Creek and Soldotna

Chugach is working with several partners on a project on the Kenai Peninsula. Chugach is managing the replacement of thyristor valves, cooling pumps, cooling towers and control systems at the Daves Creek and Soldotna Static VAr Compensators (SVC). The SVCs use large power electronics, very large transistors which are similar to what is in a computer, to control the flow of current through inductors and capacitors, allowing Chugach to increase the amount of power exported off of the Kenai Peninsula.
Improvements at Daves Creek SVC were substantially completed earlier in the year, and commissioning at the Soldotna SVC will run through August. The SVCs are owned by the State of Alaska through the Bradley Lake Hydro Project, and each of the six Railbelt utilities contribute financially while Chugach operates and maintains the equipment.