PORT TOWNSEND — The Jefferson Public Utility District covered some of the challenges it’s currently facing in power, water and broadband services during a presentation of its 10-year plan.
“For one project, we got a bid for a transformer, and the transformer would take four years to be delivered,” said Will O’Donnell, the PUD’s broadband and communications director. “All of these projects span multiple years and take lots of planning. We had another transformer that we ordered two and half years out and will be here in October. ”
The presentation was drafted by general manager Kevin Streett on Monday in collaboration with staff, and it offered some solutions.
Power
While power usage has increased in Jefferson County, the client base has not expanded at the same rate, O’Donnell said. Instead, the increase is due to homes being further electrified with computing devices, heating and cooling, electric vehicles and other draws.
“Because there’s more electric demand, and there are some plans for larger developments as well, we are just seeing where before there were some bottlenecks in the system, they are becoming more urgent,” O’Donnell said. “We’ve been making plans to increase capacity.”
The PUD purchased the power grid from Puget Sound Energy in 2013 for $115 million. Since then, it has been updating the aging system. And while the PUD won’t necessarily address every project on its list, it has projects on the 10-year horizon amounting to more than $100 million, O’Donnell said.
Projecting into the next decade, the PUD has a substations project list entailing some major additions of new bays as well as new-use focuses in Quilcene, Port Ludlow, Chimacum, Port Townsend and Dana Roberts.
Streett offered Marrowstone Island’s power system as an example of a system needing improvements. The system as is cannot achieve the desirable voltage at the end of the island. Consequences to customers are limited at this time, but the PUD is brainstorming, along with outside engineers, the best way to solve the issue, Streett said.
The PUD plans to install a hydrological system. O’Donnell said there is federal and state funding being offered for clean energy projects. Additionally, the PUD will need sufficient stored power for ferries as the state looks to electrify them by 2030. The system also would provide resiliency for other local needs, should they arise.
Water
“Unlike the electric system, where we have one grid that serves everybody, we have multiple separate water systems, and they each have their own water rights and own capacity issues,” O’Donnell said. “We have some areas where we have water rights where we can serve a lot of customers, but not many customers are on the system, and other areas where we have a lot of customers, but our total water availability is near capacity, so it’s hard to grow.”
A new $3.1 million water storage tank has been constructed in Quilcene. While the tank was required as an infrastructure need, and to meet state requirements, the PUD is only serving 40 customers from the new tank. The PUD has not acquired further water rights and is not permitted to expand to more customers off the tank.
The issue of water rights complicates the PUD’s work going forward, as it is only more difficult to come by and closely regulated, O’Donnell said.
Broadband
Streett introduced O’Donnell’s presentation on broadband by noting that broadband is currently an exciting division. The PUD is currently installing fiber optics to the rural parts of Jefferson County, starting in Quilcene.
The PUD is aiming to provide fiber optic to every unserved customer in Jefferson County by 2028, O’Donnell said. The first customers to sign up will receive the installation for free, as funded by a grant obtained by the PUD.
Customers who don’t qualify for free installation will have a $750 installation fee, which will help to cover the higher cost assumed by the PUD.
The fiber optic lines are set to provide a 10 gigabit upload and download speed to customers. Further, the cable doesn’t have a known limit on internet speeds moving into the future. Other system components do, but those components can be switched out as future needs arise.
Organizational implications
With so many projects expanding PUD systems, there will be further need for new employees and, according to the presentation, the PUD will expect to hire an additional 24 people to their existing 76 in the next decade.
The organization and their board’s success in implementing these projected goals will depend on funding, priorities at the time of implementation, and successful and timely planning, O’Donnell said.
To view or listen to the archived meeting, go to https://www.jeffpud.org/files.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com.
