Summer Work Underway to Improve Reliability for PUD Customers

Critical projects will maintain strong reliability and meet growing demand

Preventative maintenance and electric system improvements will keep Snohomish County PUD crews busy this summer as they work to maintain strong, year-round reliability for customers, especially during storm season. These efforts also help meet growing demand driven by electrification of transportation, increased use of electric heat in new homes, and continued population growth.

Projects include:

• Brier Substation: The PUD will be upgrading the Brier Substation this year to better serve the southern portion of its service area.

• Stimson-to-Stanwood 115-kV line: To create additional redundancy and better serve the growing power demands in the northern portion of its service area, the PUD is rebuilding the Stimson-to-Stanwood 115-kV line.

• Perrinville to Maplewood 115-kV Line: To improve reliability, the PUD will rebuild the 115-kV line connecting its Perrinville and Maplewood substations.

• Jackson Powerhouse Needle Valve Rebuild: This summer, staff are performing important maintenance at the Jackson Hydroelectric Project to help ensure it continues producing energy for decades to come. After forty years of continuous service, the facility’s needle valves are being rebuilt. These components play a key role in regulating water flow that spins the turbine and ultimately generates electricity.

• Tree Maintenance: The PUD’s Vegetation Management team is performing wildfire mitigation tree work in Darrington, Gold Bar and Granite Falls. This work will help reduce wildfire risk and improve reliability. Maintenance tree work is also happening in the Clearview and Maltby areas, while Oso and Camano Island are scheduled for later this year.

To further strengthen reliability, the PUD will replace hundreds of aging poles, upgrade dozens of miles of underground cable and trim trees along more than 450 circuit miles this year.