A new program touts transmission pole replacement timelines in months instead of years. But how?

BPA’s new initiative aims to streamlines the process to replace pre-existing wood poles to minimise potential infrastructure failure and improve reliability of its grid.

The Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) recently launched a new program designed to reduce the amount of time and technical resources needed to replace transmission poles in a niche criteria — and so far, it seems to be working.

BPA’s new initiative aims to streamlines the process to replace pre-existing wood poles to minimize potential infrastructure failure and improve reliability of its grid.

“The Expedited Priority Pole Program is a prime example of BPA creating practical solutions to provide better service to its ratepayers,” says John Lahti, vice president of Transmission Field Services. “With the collaboration of multiple BPA teams, we are now able to reduce the amount of time to replace certain poles from years to months. That’s a big win for the region.”

Since its implementation 18 months ago, the program has overseen the replacement of 131 wood pole structure (262 poles), with another 350 structures approved and awaiting outages for construction. Under traditional timetables, BPA claims the process to design, improve and install these same wood pole structures would have taken between three to four years.

BPA owns and operates more than 15,000 circuit miles of transmission, ranging from 1,100 kilovolts down to 13.8 KV. Transmission lines that use wood poles cover approximately 4,800 miles or about one-third of BPA’s total circuit miles of transmission lines. As a transmission owner with more than 400 customers, BPA is responsible for routinely identifying and replacing comprised wood pole structures that are a risk to the larger grid and the ability to serve power to local utilities. Every year, BPA line crews and Aircraft Services patrol our lines as part of this task.

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Additionally, an “in-depth” inspection is performed on approximately 10% of the wood poles within BPA’s transmission system in compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation, Western Electricity Coordinating Council and BPA work standards and guides.

The planned lifecycle of one of these poles, which is comprised of Douglas fir or cedar, ranges between 40 to 80 years, depending on number of factors such as insect infestation, woodpeckers, extreme weather or fire damage.

Once a pole is identified as needing replacement by line crews, a detachment of BPA staff begin their work on the project. Transmission engineers design the replacement, procurement specialists order materials, environmental protection specialists perform environmental and culture assessments, and then crews install the new pole. While each team performs a critical task, the total time to complete a routine pole replacement project can take three to four years, BPA said.

A better way?

However, in late 2022, a core group of BPA stakeholders from Transmission Services and Environment, Fish and Wildlife began to brainstorm how the agency could reduce the amount of time it would take to replace wood pole structures while still following standards and meeting requirements.

“During our many discussions, we uncovered certain wood pole structures might be eligible to be replaced quicker than other poles provided they met a predetermined criteria by each approving stakeholder team,” says Marty Flansburg, civil engineer in Transmission Program Management. “Our teams then collaborated on a set of requirements that a potential structure would need to meet. Essentially, we looked for the low-hanging fruit, so our limited resources could focus on more complex projects.”

By identifying structures that require little to no engineering design or environmental review, which BPA says can significantly add more time to the project, the team could theoretically expedite a group of poles for quick replacement.

BPA claims the effectiveness of this program became evident last month after Olympia and Chehalis Transmission Line Maintenance crews completed a change out of 15 structures, totaling 30 poles, on the Port Angeles-Sappho transmission line. The two teams completed the installation in nine days.

“Our teams were able to perform this work safely while keeping the line energized and not disturbing power to a community of 6,500 people, who were connected to this line,” said Cody Smith, lineman foreman III on Olympia TLM.

In addition to replacing the structures, Smith’s team installed a new fire-retardant wrap designed to add fire protection to the new structures. This protection measure wraps around the bottom of the wood poles, and when exposed to extreme heat, provides flame resistance. They can also withstand years of outdoor weathering, BPA said.

“This program saves our agency resources and helps identify infrastructure that can be prioritized and resolved in a short amount of time,” says Jennifer Bailey, Field Strategy and Operational Excellence Manager. “By modernizing our business systems and processes, BPA will continue to make good on its strategic plan commitments.”

How else has BPA cut lead times?

It’s not just wood poles – BPA is making an effort to speed up multiple processes. Earlier this year, BPA announced that a single policy change in its Transmission Services reduced supply chain lead times from eight months to weeks and cut costs by more than a third.

The change, removing the long-standing requirement for stamping copper cores of transmission wires with a “BPA” impression, is now touted as a major success by BPA since taking effect in December 2023.

The decision to leave stamping behind came after Transmission’s Engineering Applications and Standards team, in partnership with Supply Chain and Physical Security departments, inspected the requirement through BPA’s Quality Management process. Once a common industry practice, wire stamping existed as a theft deterrent at substations for many years. BPA’s Physical Security team used the stamps to track stolen wires being sold to metal recyclers in the region.

Tracking these stamped copper wires required heavy coordination with metal recyclers across the agency’s service territory, as stolen wires are typically melted down within 36 hours into scrap metal. For tracking to be effective, BPA needed to ensure metal recyclers across the Northwest recognized the stamp and realized they had stolen wires.

Over time, BPA Physical Security began to focus their efforts on more advanced measures and industry standards. With more modern, preventative security measures such as security cameras and hardened fences now installed at substations, BPA says there is essentially no longer a consistent need to track stamped wires for security purposes.

Originally published by Sean Wolfe on Power Grid International.