Tag Archives: Puget Sound Energy

PSE to replace towers on Agate Passage; meeting Tuesday

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Puget Sound Energy plans to replace two steel lattice towers that support transmission lines spanning Agate Passage.

The lattice towers were installed in the late 1960s and are reaching the end of their usable lifespans. PSE plans to replace the towers with four steel poles. The upgrade will help prevent transmission lines from failing and interrupting the island’s power supply, according the the PSE project page.

“By replacing the two existing lattice towers with four new steel poles, we can ensure the transmission lines will remain safe and reliable for many years to come.”

PSE is applying for city permits for the project this fall. Construction will likely take place in the summer of 2014 or 2015.

A public participation meeting for the project is scheduled from 4-7 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. A short presentation will be given at about 5:30 p.m. The meeting is a requirement of the permit application process.

More information is available on the project page. A letter to customers and a map of the project area are embedded below:

Agate Pass Tower Replacement_Community Update by tsooter

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Marshall: Love, hate and hot showers

Here’s Islander columnist Becky Fox Marshall’s column about our recent spate of power outages.

For anyone unfamiliar with what is meant by a “love/hate” relationship, might I suggest you experience being the only house in your neighborhood that mysteriously has power the day before Thanksgiving?

I am smack dab in the middle of about 16 homes on the west side of Bainbridge Island that, like the rest of the island, lost power on the Monday before Thanksgiving. It was all rather exciting to experience that howling, frigid wind and see Puget Sound behaving like an ocean with high, pounding surf.

After a few rounds of Bananagrams by lantern light with NOAA Weather Radio in the background repeating its endless loop of millibars and wind speeds, we hunkered down in our own homes for a long, cold night of scary sounds and down comforters.
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Power and parks

In case you missed it, the city (again) opted to keep moving forward with its plan for Strawberry Plant Park. A property dispute has forced the city to shave a 10-foot-wide strip off the park’s beach restoration area. It’s not a big change, city staff say, but the dispute re-sparked debate over whether the plan should be carried out. Read more HERE.

Also this week, the city, Puget Sound Energy and citizen groups continued to work on ways to reduce the island’s energy dependence and the need for high-capacity power lines and a new substation. More on that HERE.

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Islanders challenged to cut energy use by 4 percent

An effort is afoot to encourage islanders to reduce their energy consumption by 4 percent. The reduction would likely offset the need for a proposed Puget Sound Energy substation.

“Is it a challenge? Yes,” City Councilwoman Hilary Franz said. “But there are a number of things lining up that make me think we can do it.”

Read Kitsap Sun environmental reporter Christopher Dunagan’s coverage of the island’s energy reduction challenge here.

A meeting to discuss the idea is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Bainbridge Commons, 370 Brien Drive.

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Franz: Bainbridge must change its energy consumption

Councilwoman Hilary Franz submitted a guest column urging energy conservation to avert the need for a new power substation on the island. Her column is below.

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This week, Puget Sound Energy held a public meeting at the Bainbridge Commons to discuss a proposed substation and transmission lines for Bainbridge Island.  As they shared at the meeting, PSE is bound by the electrical needs of our community. Due to the growth of our Island’s power demand, PSE is forecasting that they will need to begin the construction of a new power transmission substation as early as 2011.

I believe that our island is in the position of delaying or averting the installation of the proposed 25 MVA substation in 2011.  To get there, however, will take the commitment of all of our community to energy efficiency, changing energy usage habits, and alternative energy. It will require approximately 1 to 2 MW per year reduction in our peak demand. PSE announced at the meeting that they are willing to work with the community and develop ways in which conservation may be used to meet this ambitious goal. We should take them up on this offer.

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Blackout hits B.I.

A Tuesday-morning power outage caused by a malfunctioning electrical transformer played havoc with residents of some 1,200 homes on central and northern Bainbridge Island trying to get ready for work.

The outage, caused by the transformer in the Port Madison area, began at 7:14 a.m. and lasted until 8:02 a.m., according to a Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman.

Residents who dressed in the dark then encountered delays on State Route 305, where north- and central-island traffic signals were blackened.

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