Adam RollinsTwo utility companies in United States’ Pacific Northwest and Mountain regions will collaborate to reconstruct a major transmission line spanning three states. The Lolo-Oxbow Transmission Upgrade and Optimization project will cost $173 million to complete.
The transmission line runs from the Oxbow Dam on the Oregon-Idaho border to Lewiston, Idaho, covering approximately 164 miles. Once completed, the project will increase the transmission systems’ utilization rate and resilience, integrating wildfire resilient designs, materials and other technologies to enhance performance.
The companies will deploy a series of advanced power flow controllers to provide real-time system visibility and control. Once installed, these devices will help the companies efficiently manage power flow and energy distribution along the Lolo-Oxbow line and three connected Idaho-to-Northwest transmission lines.
Enhanced control over power distribution will benefit hundreds of thousands of American residents, creating opportunities for communities to increase generation interconnection capacity for renewable resources, harden the grid and deploy innovative technologies. While the grid enhancements will optimize four transmission lines in total, construction will be limited to the Lolo-Oxbow line exclusively.
The project’s emphasis on wildfire resilience is expected to reduce line outages to fewer than one per year on average. The companies will also utilize a drone system to string lines, further reducing the risk of outages during construction. After project completion, the reconstructed interregional transmission system’s capacity will be increased by approximately 635 megawatts (MW).
Photo by Colin Davis on Unsplash
