EWEB makes way for rebuilt substation.Byline: Jeff Wright Jeff Wright can refer to:
A landmark along the Willamette River Willamette River River, northwestern Oregon, U.S. It flows north for 300 mi (485 km) into the Columbia River near Portland. Oregon's most populous cities are in its valley. The Fremont Bridge, a steel arch with a main span of 1,225 ft (373 m), crosses the river at Portland. has disappeared - with a "new, improved" version about to take its place. An electrical substation An electrical substation is a subsidiary station of an electricity generation, transmission and distribution system where voltage is transformed from high to low or the reverse using transformers. has hugged the river, next to the Eugene Water & Electric Board steam plant, since the 1920s. The Willamette substation provides electrical power to Eugene's downtown commercial district, the University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. and adjoining neighborhoods. But the substation closed down in April and has since been dismantled - with construction on a new $12 million substation to begin this month. EWEB EWEB Eugene Water and Electric Board (Oregon) officials say the new substation should be online by next summer - in time for the 2008 Olympic Track & Field Trials at the UO's Hayward Field For other uses of "Hayward", see Hayward (disambiguation). Hayward Field at University of Oregon is one of the most well-known historic track and field stadiums in the United States. It has been the home to the University of Oregon Track and Field teams since 1919. . Aging equipment was the primary motivation for abandoning the old substation, which was last upgraded in 1961, EWEB spokesman Lance Robertson Lance Robertson is an American musician,disc jockey, and actor. Originally from St. Louis, MO, Lance relocated to Los Angeles. Lance became well known in the LA indie rock scene from his band, The Raymakers and while working his day job at Amoeba Records. said. "We were getting failures in equipment that were causing outages," he said. "It got to the point where we needed to replace the equipment, and it made a lot of sense to just rebuild the whole substation." A rate hike approved by EWEB commissioners in 2004 will finance the project. The increase, 6.6 percent for residential customers, nearly doubled the amount of rate-generated revenue available to upgrade the electric distribution system. EWEB originally had looked at moving the substation to the opposite side of the adjoining Union Pacific railroad Union Pacific Railroad, transportation company chartered (1862) by Congress to build part of the nation's first transcontinental railroad line. Under terms of the Pacific Railroads Act, the Union Pacific was authorized to build a line westward from Omaha, Nebr. tracks, thus opening up more land to potential redevelopment once the utility moved its operations and engineering divisions to a new site in west Eugene. But officials ultimately decided any such move would be prohibitive, Robertson said. At 18,125 square feet, the new substation will be nearly 40 percent smaller than the old one. That means there will be about 50 feet of clearance for any road that might be built parallel to the railroad tracks, as envisioned by some redevelopment advocates. The new substation will be no closer to the river than the old one. For aesthetic reasons, EWEB also considered enclosing en·close also in·close tr.v. en·closed, en·clos·ing, en·clos·es 1. To surround on all sides; close in. 2. To fence in so as to prevent common use: enclosed the pasture. the new substation inside a building. But that was deemed too expensive because of the extra cost of cooling equipment that would have been needed to protect insulators from getting too hot. EWEB is looking at adding a decorative wall or attractive fencing around the substation, Robertson said. While some electric lines will be buried underground, the top of the substation will extend above the fencing and connect with the existing 115,000-volt transmission line that straddles the river. The new substation will have an initial maximum capacity of about 66 megawatts - less than the old station's 80-megawatt capability - but can be expanded to about 100 megawatts. The facility will be one of at least four substations that can be drawn upon to serve the downtown and university areas, Robertson said. |
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