Chelan County PUD outlines Upper Valley upgrades

LEAVENWORTH — Chelan County PUD is working on several upgrades to utility infrastructure throughout the Upper Valley, including the Leavenworth Substation rebuild, Bavarian Substation build, and the Upper Valley Transmission Improvements project.

In Leavenworth, the utility district plans to build the new Bavarian Substation to increase load capacity, rebuild the aging Leavenworth Station, and install a new transmission line to improve resiliency over the next two and a half years, said Project Manager Gary Rice.

“These three areas work together. We need all of them to get a complete update to the area,” Rice addressed the Board of Commissioners during a May 4 meeting in Leavenworth.

As it enters the build phase of the new Bavarian Substation, located at the intersection of North Road and Chumstick Highway, the utility district is also planning and designing the replacement of the existing Leavenworth Substation.

“It's getting close to the end of the capacity line. It's an older station, so it has more frequent maintenance intervals, and spare parts are harder to come by,” said Rice.

According to Rice, rebuilding in the current footprint is unfeasible because they cannot take the substation offline, and the future Bavarian Station will not be large enough to carry the entire load. Instead, the team is recommending building its replacement on the east side of the existing substation. Aesthetic and recreational considerations are being made in the process, he added.

The current substation is fed by two transmission lines designed to provide redundancy. However, the lines share a path along the final segment into the substation, creating a bottleneck. That vulnerability was exposed during December’s storms, when a tree knocked both out and cut power, Rice said. With both substations, Chelan County PUD plans to loop one line from the Bavarian Substation to the Leavenworth Substation, adding redundancy.

Chelan County PUD is also working on upgrades in the Plain and Lake Wenatchee Area, particularly with the Upper Valley Transmission Improvements project. This project plans to rebuild about 15 miles of transmission line that runs from Anderson Canyon in Peshastin to Coles Corner, as well as two miles of line from Natapoc to Plain. As part of the project, Chelan County PUD will be replacing wood structures with fire-resilient steel in addition to exploring ways to reduce tree strikes along the line. A new switchyard at Coles Corner will also be built.

“That's going to help us sectionalize the line and reduce outage impacts to all the residents,” said Project Manager Nick Goedken.

This year, the PUD plans to complete site surveying and assessments, geotechnical investigations and drilling and access road maintenance. Site preparation for the new switchyard, tree removal along the transmission line right-of-way, replacement of the transmission poles and reconduction of lines are anticipated in 2027.

As part of the upcoming Highway 207 reroute, the utility district will also be rebuilding one mile of the Plain Tap from Coles Corner, as well as one mile of the Lake Wenatchee Tap, also out of Coles Corner, said Goedken. 

Goedken also highlighted the ongoing fiber expansion, which will ultimately stretch from Stevens Pass to Sunnyslope. The underground infrastructure is expected to increase reliability and resiliency by minimizing tree and storm related outages. It will also increase internet capacity for the Upper Valley, especially during peak usage events.

“These are going to help the district lower the cost of the fiber to home build out between Lake Wenatchee and Stevens Pass, where we don't have fiber infrastructure currently,” said Goedken.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media