PORT ANGELES — An electrical transformer weighing 41½ tons that was shocked out of commission by a July lightning strike has been removed while city staff continue installation work on its replacement.
City public works staff spent about an hour Friday morning removing the damaged transformer from the Washington Street substation near Civic Field, Public Works and Utilities Director Glenn Cutler said.
The old transformer was taken from its slot in the substation a few weeks ago and had been waiting for a crane scheduled to move it to a waiting flatbed truck, which hauled it out of the city, Cutler said.
Crews are now finishing the installation of the transformer’s $577,718 replacement, which Cutler estimates should be up and running in about a month.
“We’re hoping for mid- to late April to have it fully operational,” he said.
Cutler said the cost of the new transformer will be covered by the city’s insurance policy, minus a deductible of about $25,000.
The city also will receive a credit for the old transformer that will be folded into the insurance claim, Cutler added.
The city had inked an agreement with the Clallam County Public Utility District for the use of a spare transformer while the new one was being delivered, but Cutler said winter electricity loads were not high enough for it to be needed.
“It was a pretty mild winter, really,” Cutler said.
The 35-year-old transformer was shut down by a transmission-line lightning strike last July that temporarily cut power to about 900 east Port Angeles customers, including Olympic Medical Center and the city’s wastewater-treatment plant.
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Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
