Basin Electric continues initiative to replace aging transmission infrastructure

Everything is subject to the effects of aging, even substation infrastructure. Having been installed in the 70s and 80s, some of Basin Electric’s infrastructure is over 50 years old, and like most things, parts wear out and things break down. As new technology emerges it’s critical to the lifespan of a substation to upgrade equipment before there’s a problem. Without upgrades, aging infrastructure will begin to fail, which could affect reliability. 

To prevent this from happening, Basin Electric implemented the Aging Substation Infrastructure Replacement Initiative in 2018 as the cooperative’s approach to strengthen and modernize its infrastructure and help ensure reliability for the cooperative’s members. At this time, the cooperative is on track to complete upgrades to several substations by 2025. 

In support of the initiative, with the Engineering team leading the coordination efforts, a cross-functional team was developed to create a ranking system to help identify infrastructure most in need of equipment replacement. Ranking was based on age, test data, and the availability of manufacturers who could support aging substation equipment. “As equipment ages, spare parts often become unavailable or difficult to locate, which may result in longer outages for repairs. Thus, upgrading equipment and components helps to improve transmission system reliability by decreasing the chances of equipment failures, mis-operations, and extended outages due to a lack of spare parts,” says Chad Kuntz, Basin electric supervisor of Electrical Engineering. A timeline was created and projects were spaced far enough apart to ensure available resources.

While there have been no major hiccups there have certainly been challenges. “Many of these facilities were originally built 40-plus years ago, and interfacing new equipment with existing infrastructure requires creative thinking and attention to detail,” Kuntz says. Through the experience and skill of the teams these challenges have been overcome.

The current timeline has the final Aging Infrastructure project being taken to the board of directors for consideration in 2025 with an anticipated completion date in 2027.

To find out more about the Aging Substation Infrastructure Replacement Initiative, read Ensuring reliability: Aging Substation Infrastructure Replacement Initiative continues to make progress in the Winter 2023 issue of Basin Today.