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David Dahle / Articles

Utility conditions
While reading Northwestern Energy's Distribution System Infrastructure Plan (addressing needed upgrades to their electric and gas systems in MT), this paragraph on the last page was interesting -

"NWE is in a somewhat favorable position – for now. It may already be too late for some utilities for whom the status of disrepair, the costs of catch up and the logistics of widespread infrastructure investment are unmanageable. Others are at the edge, where costly programs and extensive new construction are necessary – now. Still others share the many common problems, but have the time to do it right. We believe NWE is in the latter category, but that is a privilege that will not be reserved for long."

While I show a lot of old stuff on Otter Tail's and MDU's grids, I would say that both companies keep an watchful eye on the condition of their system and have been proactive over the years in staying on top of those portions of their system that need repairs if not outright replacement. I would say NWE-SD (NWPS) and NSP would be about in the same boat as NWE-MT (Montana Power) in having aging infrastructure but are starting to make the necessary investment to catch up with needed work on the oldest parts of their systems.

I wonder which utilities NWE was speaking of when they said "It may already be too late for some utilities..."? I know Lineman#80 and electrical 2602 have both shown some seriously run-down lines around St. Louis and Detroit...

1 comment

James E Hackett said:

DTE and Consumer's Energy in Michigan definitely has some very old run down poles consisting of knotty poles, tilted cross arms, and very old equipment. Many poles have been replaced in the recent years but many of the repairs are focused on busy roads such as avenues around busy shopping centers. DTE primarily uses 4.8kv delta (even in rural areas) with a very old 24 and 41.6kv radial sub-transmission system with indoor substations that have not been updated in years. Consumer's Energy uses 4.8/8.32kv throughout most of the grid (even in rural areas) and uses a fairly old 23 and 46kv sub-transmission loop system with recently updated substations. Detroit Lighting Commission is a municipal in Detroit that mimics most of DTE's 4.8kv system and has a very outdated street lighting system in which many streets in the city are actually not even lit. As you may have seen in some of my pictures, the entire city still uses a series street lighting system. Many of the poles use glass insulators and vintage j-brackets. Within this year, the city was under going a project to upgrade their street lighting system, however, i've heard rumors that they did not fallow through on the project because the city has filed Chapter 9 and is on the verge of bankruptcy.
11 years ago
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