After decades of careful design and preparation, construction of a transmission line was completed this summer, and the line was officially energized on October 15, 2024, Oregon public power utility Central Lincoln PUD reported in early December.
“This critical project provides the much-needed redundancy to significantly enhance the resilience of our power supply, especially during severe weather,” it said
With the L9 transmission line now live, Central Lincoln is better equipped to handle future storms, reducing what could have been extended outages to brief interruptions, it said.
The L9 project has been in development for nearly two decades. The first phase, initiated in the early 2000s, involved the construction of a substation, which now connects to the newly completed L9 line. This substation, completed around 2010, laid the foundation for what would become a major upgrade to the power infrastructure serving the Newport, Oregon, area.
Shamus Gamache, director of engineering, said, “The idea for this project started as early as 2006 before I even joined the utility. At that time, we hadn’t built Substation 109, but we knew we needed to create redundancy in our power grid to ensure reliability for Newport. The L9 line is the realization of that long-term vision.”
Addressing Risk and Enhancing Reliability
The L9 line is a vital addition to Central Lincoln’s grid. It provides an alternate route for power flow into Newport, if the primary transmission line is compromised, particularly during storms and other natural disasters.
Hunter Templeton, senior civil engineer, explained, “We identified that we had only one transmission line feeding Newport. If that line went down during a storm, the entire northern portion of Newport would be without power. L9 provides a backup route, ensuring we can reroute electricity and avoid prolonged outages.”
The risk was highlighted by a significant ice storm last winter, which left large parts of Newport without power for several days. “If the L9 had been operational during that storm, the outage could have been much shorter,” said Aaron Collett, engineering supervisor. “Now that L9 is live, we’re in a much better position to avoid extended outages for our customers.”
The public power utility said that the project faced numerous challenges, from securing easements to ensuring compliance with environmental regulations, which were complicated by the fact that the new transmission line passes over Big Creek Reservoir, the City of Newport’s water source.
“The city’s watershed posed some unique hurdles,” said Collett. “We had to go through extra steps to ensure we were minimizing our environmental impact, particularly when it came to tree removal.”
Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of the project was the design of six massive transmission structures, each with footings that extend 27 feet into the ground. These structures were entirely designed in-house by Templeton, who applied his engineering expertise to ensure they were strong enough to withstand the harsh coastal conditions.
“It took three truckloads of concrete to fill in the base of each of the six structures,” Collett explained. “These structures are remarkable and some of the most robust you’ll find in Newport.”
In addition to the physical construction, the L9 project involved complex programming to ensure quick, automatic responses to any problems on the line, Centra; Lincoln noted.
"The 411-L relays installed on the L9 line act like high-tech traffic controllers for electricity, constantly monitoring the power flow. When an issue is detected, such as a tree hitting a line, these devices communicate with each other in real time to isolate the problem and prevent a widespread outage—often faster than a blink of an eye," it said.
Chris Field, associate electrical engineer said that the 411-L relays "are designed to detect faults and make decisions to trip breakers almost instantly. Thanks to the programming we developed in-house, the system can respond to problems in milliseconds, ensuring the safe and efficient operation of our power grid.”
Steve Alexanderson, senior electrical engineer, added, “The beauty of this system is that it’s designed to keep power flowing, even when there’s a fault or an issue on one part of the line. The relays react almost instantly to isolate the problem, and the rest of the system continues operating. Customers may not even notice there was an issue—it happens that fast.”
When a fault occurs, such as a tree hitting a line, the relays detect the issue and trip the circuit in about .06 seconds, preventing further damage, Central Lincoln said.
“It’s a system that works faster than a human could notice,” said John Nunnelee, staff electrical engineer. “The speed and precision of these relays ensure that outages are minimized and contained.”
The L9 project builds on Central Lincoln’s earlier success in Florence, Oregon, where a closed-loop transmission system was installed to provide redundancy and reliability in case of power loss. “In Florence, we implemented a loop feed to ensure that if one line went down, another could step in to keep the power flowing,” said Gamache. “We applied the same strategy to Newport with the L9 line, and we plan to extend this model throughout our service territory to improve reliability for all our customers.”
"These additional projects are critical as Central Lincoln prepares for future growth, ensuring that the grid remains resilient in the face of storms and outages," the utility noted.
The construction portion of the L9 project progressed more quickly than initially anticipated. “We were able to compress what would typically be a year-long project into just a few months,” Templeton said. He credited favorable weather and the hard work of the contractors and crews who made this timeline possible. “We had multiple teams working at once, which helped us speed things up.”
In addition to saving time, Central Lincoln’s decision to rely on in-house expertise also saved significant costs, Central Lincoln said.
“By handling the design and engineering ourselves, we avoided the large expenses of hiring external firms,” Collett added. “That decision directly benefits our customers by keeping rates low.”
The project also included the installation of a fiber optic line along the transmission line, improving Central Lincoln’s communication infrastructure. The Optical Ground Wire not only provides lightning protection but also serves as a communication pathway for the utility’s SCADA system, which is essential for monitoring and managing the grid.
