Northern Electric has a bevy of upcoming projects. Members will see their lineman busy digging in line and tearing out poles this fall as they complete upgrades to the systems.

This fall, in addition to a few other projects, Northern Electric Cooperative crew will be putting in:

• Three miles of underground near Richmond Lake.
• Three miles of underground west of the Mansfield substation
• 12 miles of underground along Highway 281 North of Aberdeen.
• Two miles of underground on the west circuit of the Ashton Substation.

The Richmond Lake project was prompted by the replacement of the Richmond Lake dam. Currently, the Northern Electric poles go over the dam. Those lines will have to be removed before the project begins in 2026. Since the two-stage construction is expected to close the roadway for over a year, it makes more sense to bury the line than set temporary poles.

 The line that previously crossed the dam will be buried just east of the dam and will continue north before heading west for one mile. Since we have to bury a mile anyway, we are going to put in two more miles so we can tie to the west side of the lake.

The plan is to keep burying line, heading north and west around Richmond, before eventually boring under the lake and connecting to the lines on the west side. This will greatly improve service for members on the west side of the lake. Currently, that side of the lake is only fed by one line. If that line is damaged, then everyone on the west side loses power. By connecting the east side line to the west side under the lake, it creates a loop circuit around the lake, allowing energy to flow from multiple directions. 

The Mansfield and Ashton projects, as well as eight miles near Bath are funded by Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Now that the projects were approved, Northern lineman will have to work to beat the completion due date. Some of these projects have been waiting for approval for five years and now need to be done within a year.

In order to comply with FEMA requirements, and therefore receive funding, the lines must be buried as part of disaster prevention. Underground lines are less likely to have an outage during a blizzard, high winds, or tornado. FEMA does not provide the funds until the projects are completed. Until then, Northern will have to fit the projects costs into the workplan budget.

The Process

During the projects, members on the lines being upgraded shouldn’t have much disruption in service. The active overhead lines won’t be switched over to the new underground cable until the very end of the project. Switching over should only take an hour or so per service and members will be alerted beforehand with an estimated timeframe.

Although it takes time, the process is fairly straightforward. First, Northern Electric will have route flagged and marked. Then the huge spools of line are loaded onto specialized equipment that has a narrow plow head. The cable is fed automatically into the ground. Each spool is one mile of cable. Once everything is ready, it’s simply a matter of plowing in the cable.

After the energy is switched over, the overhead lines will be dismantled and the poles removed. The crew will clean up the area as much as possible, then move on to the next project in Northern’s workplan.

Overhead vs underground

While these projects are all burying line, Northern Electric tries to keep a balance between overhead and underground line. Each type of infrastructure has its purpose, and neither is necessarily better or more economical. Each has its tradeoffs.

While underground is considered more reliable, the outages tend to be longer. It’s harder to pinpoint where the fault is. There might be a tiny pinhole in a cable that’s several miles long. By having a loop feed, such as what will be installed around Richmond Lake, the faulted cable can be isolated and energized from different direction until the cable is repaired.

Once the damage has been isolated, there is still a delay before lineman can start digging. A call has to be made to 811. The area has to be marked or flagged by other utility companies, so the crew doesn’t accidentally damage the other buried lines. That can take over two hours. Then crew still need to dig up the line, splice and rebury it before power can be restored.

Because the overhead lines are exposed to the elements and wildlife, outages happen more frequently but are shorter and generally easier to fix. An outage on an overhead line usually only lasts an hour or two. It’s easier to drive out, look up, and see the problem. Once the problem is identified, crews can start working right away.

Overhead also has the advantage of easier upgrades. Since Northern Electric has been upgrading the class of poles used, installing an additional line is easy as adding another set of arms to the pole. With underground, additional cable would have to be installed next to the already buried line, without damaging it.

Easements

Members with land along these routes may have gotten a call recently from Northern Electric enquiring about easements. Plowing the lines on private property can save money for the cooperative. It’s generally faster installation and there are fewer issues later on. We really appreciate people giving us easements so we can keep these projects moving.

If we’re on private land, and there’s nothing else in the way, contractors can plow a mile in an hour. They just take off and go!

The ditch is public property and shared by many different utilities. Whenever Northern’s line crosses another line, such as gas or internet, the crew has to stop and assess. Northerns lines are buried at least four feet deep. If the other lines impede that depth, crew have to dig a hole big enough for a lineman to either splice or feed cable below those other lines. 

Anecdotally, untilled soil seems to have more pocket gophers than private property. Pocket gophers can damage underground cables by chewing on the cable, causing outages.

Another concern using public land is changes to the public right of way. If Northern’s line is in the ditch and the county or state decide to widen or do road work that involves the ditch, Northern has to fund relocating the line. Lines on private land are moved at the expense of the state or county.

If you have a question about a Northern Electric Cooperative project happening in your area, please call me at 605-225-0310.