New Transmission Line Ensures Continued Reliability for Customers in Truckee Meadows
April 4, 2018
Link: https://www.nvenergy.com/abou…
When a new large customer announced it was building a facility in East Reno, the benefits to the northern Nevada community would be added jobs, economic development and continuing to establish Reno as a thriving technology destination.
In order to ensure the new facility and customers in the Spanish Springs area would continue to receive from NV Energy what is among the most reliable service in the nation, a new, 120kV transmission line was added from East Tracy to the Pah Rah substation.
“With load increasing we needed to make transmission-level upgrades to maintain reliability of that load growth for the region,” said Luis Garcia-Perez, P.E., Project Manager. “This upgrade helps maintain reliability of the grid as that area grows.”
One of the biggest challenges for this customer-driven project was to get this new line in service fast enough to support the load growth. The project began in Sept. 2016 and the line was energized in Nov. 2017.
As part of this project crews used a 1.5 inch diameter aluminum conductor with a special composite core that helped conduct a larger amount of energy that needed to be run through the wires. This was only the second time NV Energy had used this size cable.
“Our crews did a small section with a test pull to see how they would string the wire,” he said. “We had to rent equipment to pull this cable as it’s a bigger gauge wire.”
This project also helps play a key role in supporting economic development in northern Nevada for both business growth and residential growth.
Special thanks to:
Victor Barajas, Technician, Telecommunications
Bob Byrne, Foreman, Technician, Relay, Working
Brett Corkill, Telecommunications Engineer, III
Edi Von Engeln, Senior Engineer, Network
Calvin Humphrey, Supervisor, Line Construction Maintenance Operations
Will Johnson, Senior Engineer, Substation Design
Devon Kendall, Engineer II, Design, Transmission/Civil
Jim Lehan, Principal Engineer, Transmission/Civil
Mick Levine, Senior Engineer, System Protection
Dan Lindsay, Foreman, Line, Working, Trans (Travel)
Mehrdad Majidi, Engineer II, System Protection
Mick Pedracci, Tech, Relay, Senior
Catina Ritter, Supervisor, Substation Operations
Chris Robinson, Right of Way Agent
Carol Roth, Senior Project Manager, Delivery
Robert Sindicich, Foreman, Control, Working
Mark Sullivan, Land Use Adviser
Scott Talbot, Senior Project Manager, Delivery
Adam Webster, Telecommunication Engineer II
Al Worley, Foreman, Construction, Working, Heavy