Bureau of Reclamation transfers three switchyards to Bonneville Power

The Bureau of Reclamation has officially transferred three electrical substations to the Bonneville Power Administration.

Officials from the federal agency and the Bonneville Power Administration celebrated the transfer of ownership of the 500-kilovolt, 230-kilovolt and 115-kilovolt switchyards during an event Monday at the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center.

Jennifer Carrington, Bureau of Reclamation’s regional director in the Columbia-Pacific Northwest, and John Hairston, Bonneville Power administrator and CEO, were on hand at the event.

The transfer officially took effect on Oct. 1.

“As we make these investments, the region’s reliance on Grand Coulee is only going to intensify. Power and transmission demands will grow significantly,” Hairston said at the event. “At the same time, dispatchable carbon-emitted resources are being replaced with renewable energy sources, which puts greater demand on flexible resources like hydropower.”

The transfer is expected to reduce overall costs for BPA on modernization investments and operating and maintenance expenses.

With the ownership change, there will be a five-year transitionary period as BPA preps the switchyards one at a time to their standards to gradually take over operations and maintenance.

“This effort helps us to consolidate our work and our budget to our core mission of managing water resources since before COVID,” said Coleman Smith, power manager of the Grand Coulee Dam. “We had been looking into this effort since, like, 2017, 2018, so quite a few years.”

Smith said the bureau will obtain ownership of a smaller switchyard since it serves them at the dam; however, it won’t have an impact on the bulk electric system.

“We feel that it will help us to be more efficient in our work, in meeting our mission, and we think it will help BPA in their mission, too,” Smith said.

As we make these investments, the region’s reliance on Grand Coulee is only going to intensify. Power and transmission demands will grow significantly” John Hairston Bonneville Power Administrator and CEO