On Sunday, July 22, there was heavy rainfall, and then at 8:45 p.m., the power went out in Girdwood. It took five hours before the lights were back on. It’s a common problem not only in Girdwood, but in surrounding communities like Hope and Indian. It’s also a problem Chugach Electric Association, Inc. is well aware of, and one they said would be partially fixed in Girdwood when the substation located at the Old Girdwood Townsite is rebuilt. However, that won’t happen until 2010.This reporter visited the substation the day the power went out and spoke to a Chugach employee overseeing the work. The technician drove down from Anchorage, which is where the engineers and technicians are based, and appeared frustrated and somewhat resigned to the fact that a Girdwood power failure is never a quick or easy fix. The reason he explained is because replacement parts for the substation are back in Anchorage, so after the problem is identified—in this case it was a cracked insulator— they then must find and transport the part back from Anchorage.
The technician said the substation was getting old and needs to be rebuilt. He looked at the vintage wooden structure supporting the station, and explained that it needs a new transformer, new circuits and switches, and new insulators. Some of the insulators were made in the 60’s, he said, when the substation was first built. The insulators are made of inferior glass compared to those made today.
“This has been going on for a long time,” he said.
The Girdwood Board of Supervisors addressed the possibility of rebuilding the substation back on March 17, 1997. But the GBOS voted 5-0 to disapprove the expansion and rebuilding of some of the bus work and adding a second transformer.
However, as Girdwood’s 1961 vintage substation approaches the half-century mark, Chugach Electric has decided it’s time to rebuild part of it.
In 2010, the company is prepared to invest $1.9 million to rebuild the low side of the substation, replacing old equipment and replacing the open-air wooden structure that currently supports the station, with a metal clad building that’s enclosed, offering more protection to the equipment from the weather, and making it possible to add another transformer and second circuit into Girdwood.
“Girdwood has been upgraded over the years, and there is a plan to make more improvements,” said Ed Jenkins, Director of the Engineering Services Divi-sion for Chugach Electric. “I would expect that over the course of 50 years that we could build something better.”
Some of the detailed work planned includes replacing the old glass insulators with better glass/ceramic composite insulators and rebuilding the low side of the substation and replacing the distribution switching gear and breakers. The new metal clad substation will replace the current open-air wood configuration. Some wood poles will go away, said Jenkins, and some will stay.
But that is not the end of the upgrades or work that is planned for the substation.
“We still have plans in the future to add a second transformer as local demand increases,” said Jenkins. “We don’t have a timeline now.”
Jenkins said the transformer now in place is capable of handling twice the load of voltage than is currently needed, so the old transformer will be used until the demand increases beyond its capacity. The cost to essentially rebuild the second half of the substation would likely be at least $2 million. But before a new transformer is added, Jenkins said a second transmission line would be installed.
Currently, there’s only one transmission line, and simply put, two lines are better than one, so when one line goes down, the second line can still provide service to a portion of the service area.
Debris falling on the transmission line is the root of most of the power outages in Girdwood, Indian and Hope. Snow, tree branches and trees, all cause large-scale power outages when they fall on the line.
“There are a lot of trees down there,” said Chugach Electric spokesperson, Patty Bogan. “The line passes through Power Line Pass. Hope has a lot of the same problems, and what we have there is a lot of spruce beetle killed trees. But we can’t clear every tree.”
Statistically, Girdwood has a worst reliability average for power than Anchorage, with Girdwood residents having 3.9 outages per year
Things get worst in Indian, where the average frequency of power outages was 10 per year. Similar averages applied to Hope, Cooper Landing, Moose Pass and Portage.
But the future looks bright for Girdwood as Chugach Electric moves ahead to rebuild a substation that has survived the 1964 earthquake, but is finally succumbing to father time.