PA council OKs purchase of new electrical transformer

Published 12:01 am Thursday, September 6, 2012

PORT ANGELES — Although a massive new electrical transformer will not be built and delivered in time to cover most of Port Angeles’ peak-load usage this winter, the city will use a spare transformer to carry it through, Public Works and Utilities Director Glenn Cutler said.

The Clallam County Public Utility District will make available a spare transformer while the new $577,718 Washington Street substation transformer is being built, Cutler told the City Council on Tuesday.

It is scheduled for delivery in February.

The new transformer will replace one that has not worked since it was damaged during a transmission-line lightning strike July 13.

The lightning strike caused a two-hour outage to 900 northeast Port Angeles customers that ended when power was quickly rerouted from other areas.

Earlier this month, the City Council, looking ahead to peak winter demand, unanimously ratified an emergency declaration signed by City Manager Dan McKeen to expedite purchase or replacement of the transformer without competitive bidding.

The cost of replacement is covered by insurance minus a deductible of about $25,000, Cutler said.

Council members unanimously approved the purchase of the device, which reduces high voltages to low voltages so power can be distributed to customers, at their meeting Tuesday night.

Council members voted 4-0 to make the purchase.

Mayor Cherie Kidd said council members Brooke Nelson and Max Mania were out of town, and Deputy Mayor Brad Collins was recovering from surgery.

The substation accounts for about 14 percent of the city’s electrical power capacity.

Among customers served by the substation are Olympic Medical Center and the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

The broken transformer is about 13 feet high and weighs 83,000 pounds.

Rebuilding it, which includes rewinding, would cost more than $551,000, while purchasing a used transformer would cost more than $419,000, Cutler said in his memo to the City Council.

A used transformer that the council could have purchased was reconditioned in 2008 and has a one-year warranty.

The existing unit is 35 years old, city Electrical Engineering Manager Terry Dahlquist said.

The city is paying an extra $30,000 to have the new unit built and delivered in an expedited manner.

The new transformer “easily” has a life expectancy of between 40 and 50 years, Dahlquist said.

A second aging transformer at the city’s A Street substation is scheduled for replacement in 2013, Cutler said.

It is expected to cost about the same as the transformer the council agreed to purchase Tuesday.

Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.