Power line upgrade spans 11 miles

Thanks to recent flooding, a power line replacement project running east and west just north of New Richland along County Road 8 will now be wrapping up in November rather than its original planned completion in October. The full project spans 11 miles, coming out of Steele County on the east and continuing to County Road 11 on the western end.

 

Crews working for Great River Energy (GRE) began removing wooden poles last spring, and over the summer gradually replaced them with steel.

 

According to GRE spokesperson Lori Buffington, the line was first set in 1949. “Over time, there has been wear on the wire and some decay in the wooden poles,” she said. “This line was identified as part of our age and condition program as one that needed to be updated.”

 

The new transmission wire is larger than the original, Buffington said, and is “better able to support today’s power needs.”

 

Replacement poles, Buffington shares, are between 65 and 85 feet tall, with another 13 to 15 feet underground. The taller poles can be more widely spaced than the wooden ones they’re replacing; they typically last 80 years or longer.

 

To transport and plant the poles, work crews needed to cross cropland and completely flattened whatever was growing there. Buffington said farmers are reimbursed for crop loss on the basis of fair market value.

 

Great River Energy is a not-for-profit wholesale electric cooperative which has more than 5,100 miles of transmission lines in Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. Said Buffington, “The 26 member distribution cooperatives who own us serve rural and suburban areas of Minnesota from the northeast Arrowhead to the farmland region in the southern portion of the state. “Steele-Waseca Co-op Electric is one of our member-owner cooperatives.”

 

Buffington shared that GRE has replaced about 80 miles of transmission line each year for the past few years.

 

She also stated, “Great River Energy has a pole inspection program to help extend the life of the structures to their fullest. Our planning engineers constantly analyze our system to identify what power lines need improvements to help ensure we can continue to provide the reliable electricity that our cooperative communities expect.”