Umatilla Electric has gained a new substation – one that rolled into town on wheels.
Unlike UEC’s 40 other substations from Boardman to the Blue Mountains, this one fits on a low-boy trailer. The mobile unit can improve reliability if a substation or its equipment fails.
“Should a substation fail, the mobile unit can be moved into place within hours, assume the substation’s load, and allow for careful inspection and permanent repair while service remains intact,” said Robert Echenrode, the cooperative’s operations manager.
The mobile unit also can serve as a temporary substation when a permanent substation needs maintenance, he said.
Without the mobile substation to pick up the load, that work might require a lengthy outage or place strain on the distribution system, which poses a threat to reliability.
The new substation, 127,000 pounds and more than 60 feet long, was designed, built and assembled in the United States by Delta Star Incorporated. It arrived in Hermiston on Nov. 19 from an assembly plant in California. In December UEC crews were trained in how to operate the substation in the field.
