Power from the ground

03.08.2005
by Lisa Shearer, The Edmond Sun

While the city prepares to take the overhead electric lines underground in a second neighborhood, the Edmond City Council also recently agreed to hire a consulting firm to study whether this is a good idea for more areas of Edmond.

The $1.5 million Henderson Hills Addition project is now complete, and Edmond Electric is beginning the same work in the Clegern Place Addition, which is just to the north of Henderson Hills.

Both neighborhoods are east of Boulevard and north of 33rd Street.

The council approved last week spending $43,065 to pay C.H. Guernsey, an engineering firm, to provide a study of what it would take to afford making more electric lines go underground.

"The real driver for the study was coming out of (the City Council's) Strategic Plan and budget process last year," said Charlie Burgett, utility director for Edmond Electric.

Originally, Edmond Electric approached the Henderson Hills project to help solve frequent power outage problems in the area.

This addition of 465 residents also suffered the most electric line damage during the 2001 ice storms, which was problematic for the city electric crews to reach and restore power.

In Clegern Place, an addition of 110 homes, Edmond Electric hopes to have the bid process for construction and the order for equipment made by June 30, Burgett said.

The time needed for the project has not been determined yet, but it is estimated to cost $750,000.

This addition was picked as a second project "based upon our assessment of where the biggest problems of aging, overhead lines has occurred and the reliability in this area has been a problem," Burgett said.

But with the C.H. Guernsey study, the city hopes to determine the practicality, the cost and other factors if it were to pursue changing more overhead electric lines to underground facilities.

Before C.H. Guernsey representatives begin their work in earnest, they expect to meet with the council in a workshop setting to find out exactly what city officials are looking for from the study, Burgett said.

The consulting firm also is being asked to research what other electric utilities are doing in this area.

The final product will be a report outlining all issues, options the city has and the advantages and disadvantages of those options in addition to estimated costs of such an undertaking.

Also last week, the council approved a second contract with C.H. Guernsey to design the new Mitch Park electric substation project for $107,475.

The substation is planned for the west side of Mitch Park. Substations are how an electric utility pulls power from high-voltage transmission grids onto a local power grid.

"We have had so much growth in the north part of Edmond. That is the area where we need additional capacity to serve the growth that has occurred and will continue to occur," Burgett said.

The substation, which has been planned since 1995, will be built with additional capacity for future growth needs.

The Mitch Park substation will look much like the existing one next to Santa Fe High School, Burgett said.

(Lisa Shearer may be reached via e-mail at lshearer@edmondsun.com.)