This
column, written by OPALCO's System Design Engineer Mark Tilstra, is the first of
a series featuring projects and employees that OPALCO would like its members to
know more about. Mark has worked for OPALCO for twelve years. His responsibilities
include major system improvements as well as oversight of ongoing maintenance, replacement
and conversion projects.
Reliability is what Orcas Power and Light Cooperative has been all about for the past decade. Since the early 1990's, cooperation from members, hard work from the board of directors, management and employees have made the power system that serves us one we can all be proud of. For years, we had been experiencing ongoing problems with reliability on San Juan Island. Mainland outages, along with our own maintenance issues, created a real challenge for our crews when restoring power. Peaking electrical loads challenged the system, resulting in prolonged outage times in several areas of the island.
These concerns motivated the building of a new substation this past year at the north end of Grover Street in Friday Harbor. It is located along our transmission corridor to minimize the construction of transmission lines. The role of this substation is to convert the transmission voltage from 69,000 to 15,000 volts and distribute it over our existing system, which consists of both underground and overhead facilities. It will relieve a portion of the load from the existing Friday Harbor substation and allow a unique reliability factor that has not been a reality in Friday Harbor until now. This new substation can take the entire load off the existing Friday Harbor substation so that maintenance and overloading issues can be resolved.
This
substation is a 1.6 million dollar project that involved several years of planning
and six months of heavy construction. With participation and cooperation from landowners,
neighbors, local contractors and OPALCO construction crews and staff, this project
became a reality and was brought into service with the September 20th outage on
San Juan Island.
I was privileged to be the project manager for this undertaking - one of many that I have had the opportunity to be involved in. From submarine cable terminals to numerous transmission and distribution projects, the past 12 years have offered me diverse career opportunities unlike any other utility in the Northwest.
So, as you enjoy your electrical amenities during this coming year, reflect on how fortunate we are, not only to have this new substation on San Juan, but to be members of a power company that is focused on reliability. You can also be assured that additional planning is ongoing for upgrading our system to solve reliability as well as maintenance issues. We live in a challenging, unique environment and I am reminded daily that our members trust that we will meet the electrical challenges we'll all face in the future.
Mark and his wife, Kathy, as well as three of their six sons, live on Orcas Island. They enjoy the rural environment and diverse background of those who live here. Besides their involvement in theocratic activities, Mark and his wife appreciate their quiet island home, good friends and family and even an occasional fishing trip or two.
