Other Services
Overhead Transmission
From 69kV wood pole lines to 500kV lattice tower transmission lines, Wilson's high voltage overhead expertise is respected throughout the West. Whether your project requirements include hot-work, environmentally sensitive crossings, or other challenging site conditions, Wilson brings a dedication and commitment to quality and safety unsurpassed in the industry. From working on energized lines to utilizing helicopters to pull sock lines, Wilson is known for our ability to bring even the most complex projects to safe, successful completion, on time, and within budget.Projects Examples
McNary – JohnDay 500kV Transmission Line, WA
Wilson Construction Crews began construction on the 79 Mile, McNary to John-Day 500kV transmission line in for Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). The transmission line starts in Washington, proceeds west for about 70 miles along the Columbia River and then crosses the Columbia River, near the John Day Dam, into Oregon and proceeds 3 miles west, terminating near Rufus, OR. The 79-mile transmission line consists of steel lattice towers, triple bundle 1590 ACSR Deschutes conductor, and 72 count ADSS fiber optic cables.
Phase 1, 39 miles, construction began in June with crews installing foundations for the lattice towers and building access roads. Assembly crews followed right behind with the assembly of the lattice towers. Phase 2, 37 miles, will begin in 2010 and we anticipate completion in 2011.
Swan Lake – Lake Tyee, AK
This 138 kV transmission line crosses the Tongass National Forest and is located in Southeast Alaska near Ketchikan. The Intertie extends generally north approximately 57.4 miles from Ketchikan Public Utilities to the Lake Tyee hydroelectric project, where Wrangell Light and Power and Petersburg Municipal Power and Light systems are connected. Nearly 47 miles of the right-of-way lie on National Forest System land administered by the Forest Service. The remaining land is State of Alaska owned. The Right-of-Way is impossible to traverse by means other than helicopter. Wilson crews worked from a "base camp" barge and were flown to tower locations by Wilson's helicopters.
Foundations began in the spring of 2004 utilizing Crux Subsurface to install micropile foundations. Unfortunately, funding from various state and federal agencies didn’t keep up with construction and the foundation operation was halted with approximately 70% of the foundations completed.
All funding was finally in place in late 2007 and we remobilized Crux in the spring of 2008 to complete the foundations and guy anchors.
Wilson mobilized in the winter of 2009 to receive the steel structures and other materials required to finish the line installation. Erickson Air Crane was subcontracted to fly the structures, conductor reel stands and conductor reels in June of 2009. 252 structures and all stands and conductor were flown and placed or installed in a record 9 days. After the structures were set and the conductor was placed, the stringing operation began. Conductor pullers and tensioners were purchased from TESMEC in Italy, shipped to Canby and then modified by Wilson mechanics to “modularize” the equipment into smaller components whereas a medium lift helicopter could pick and fly the individual components. The project was completed safely, under budget and ahead of schedule.
"The Southeast Alaska Power Agency is thrilled that Wilson completed construction of this very difficult project six weeks ahead of schedule. We are very pleased with Wilson's dedication and professionalism. They took on a very difficult and challenging project and worked with us, as the owner, to find ways to overcome delays caused by significant funding hurdles. This project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget which has exceeded my most optimistic expectations. Wilson and their subcontractors performed superbly!"
Buck – Julian Hinds 230kV Transmssion Line, CA
In mid January 2009 Wilson Construction was awarded the Buck-Julian Hinds 230kV project for Nextera Energy. Crews began working on this year-long project in late February 2009. The 230kV transmission line extends from the Blythe Energy Plant west to the Julian Hinds Pumping Station. The line is 67 miles in length and is comprised of 286 concrete structures and 143 tubular steel structures, some of the concrete structures weighing over 80,000lbs. The design is primarily single pole with davit arms, but there are some H-Frames, and 3-Pole structures. There are 54 pier foundations on the project with the largest being 12’ x 44’. Wilson self performed the pier foundations utilizing our Watson 3110 and LoDril. The conductor consists of 3-bundle 1033.5 “Curlew” ACSR and there is an overhead optical ground wire.
The line was proposed to the California Energy Commission (CEC) in order to transmit power from the Blythe Energy Plant to the Southern California Edison energy grid which could be connected at the Julian Hinds Pumping Station. This particular transmission line project is extremely unique because it is a non utility regulated project. This means the project falls under different guidelines and inspection procedures, which are more stringent. Complicating the project even more is the fact that the entire project lies in prime desert tortoise habitat.
Despite these challenges and battling high temperatures (120 degrees +) all summer crews have stayed ahead of schedule and have done so without incident. Currently, crews are pulling wire and are expected to complete construction at the end of January 2010.
Ebey Slough Transmission Line Rebuild Project, WA
Wilson Construction Company was retained by Puget Sound Energy to replace two-single circuit transmission lines located near Ebey Slough, Washington with one double-circuit transmission line. The existing line, constructed as separate 115kV and 230kV circuits on parallel wood pole H-frames, serves as an important regional demand for energy and has been badly damaged over the years. The new line consists of 15 steel monopoles designed to carry the two existing parallel transmission circuits. Wilson‘s design/build team consisted of Power Engineers (line and conventional foundation design), Crux Subsurface, Inc (micropile foundation design) and SWP Environmental Services Co (environmental permitting, inspection and monitoring). Wilson crews faced many challenges on this 2 mile project as the right of way was located in a large emergent wetland which is tidally influenced. Majority of the work was performed using large marsh buggies or helicopters to support crews.
Hayden – Roberts 345kv Transmission Line, OH
Wilson crews completed the Hayden Roberts 345kV Transmission Line Project for American Electric Power Service Corp on April 13, 2009. The work consisted of constructing 6 miles of 2 bundle conductor and one optical ground wire for the second circuit on an existing 345kV Transmission Line including installation of two 56’ steel poles located near Hilliard, Ohio. Construction began on March 23rd and the crews worked 7 days and week, sun up to sun down to finish within the tight outage timeline.
Hoover Mead – Mead #6 and #8 230kV Transmission Line, NV
Wilson Construction Co. recently completed the Hoover-Mead #6 and Hoover-Mead #8 230kV Transmission Line Jumper Clamp Reinforcement Project. This project was sent out by the Department of Energy Western Area Power Administration as an emergency project needing immediate attention. The jumpers were wearing through and falling open which potentially could have caused power outages to customers.
The principal components of work included drilling holes into the existing jumper termination plates and installing Government-furnished reinforcement plates and hardware to the jumper connections along two separate three-phase 230kV transmission lines. The repairs required to the Hoover - Mead 230kV transmission lines 6 and 8 were within four and five miles of the Hoover Dam Switchyard #1, respectively. The transmission lines crossed rugged desert terrain; surface access was limited to very primitive roads at only a few of the structures. Due to the difficult access, Wilson helicopters were used extensively to complete the work.
Bailey – Pastoria 230kV Transmission Line Reconductor, CA
This project called for the replacement of 76.76 miles (501 spans) of existing 605 kcmil ACSR conductors with new 666.6 kcmil ACSS/TW conductors.In addition, Wilson Construction Company raised 14 towers as well as converted 30 towers from suspension to dead end configurations. 28 miles of the work on this project was located within the Angeles National Forest boundaries, as well as several miles that traverse through the Tejon Ranch. Our in-house helicopters were used throughout the construction process to minimize the environmental impact along the right-of-way.
Swan Valley – Teton No. 1 and 2 115-kV Lines, WY
This project covers the modification to the double-circuit portion of the Swan Valley-Teton No. 1 and 2 115-kV lines. To gain more clearance between the phases, the upper pedestal, cage and crossarms of two lattice steel towers were replaced along with one complete lattice steel tower. One span of conductor was replaced and groundwire removed from two spans. Insulators were added to extend the existing dead-end hardware assemblies.
This project was located at the top of Teton Pass, in the Teton National Forest, Wyoming, at approximately 9,000 feet elevation. Wilson’s helicopter carried equipment and tools to the work areas and supplied hardware and tools to the linemen in the towers located in areas with no vehicular access.
Franklin – Walla No.1 115kV Transmission Line, WA
This transmission line upgrade project consisted of replacing approximately 200 wood poles, conductor and performing hardware upgrades on 17.5 miles of the Franklin-Walla Walla No. 1 115-kV transmission line.
The upgrades included the replacement of crossarms and cross braces on selected wood pole structures, the replacement of guy anchors and guys, and the replacement of all insulators. The project also involved looping the existing Walla Walla-North Lewiston No. 1 115-kV transmission line at mile 47 in Tucannon river Substation. Two new wood pole structures were erected and conductor installed along with overhead groundwire.
Construction on the line had to be completed in sections to allow for portions of the line to remain in service. The line mainly traverses through agricultural fields and orchards.
