As part of Centralia City Light’s capital improvements, the utility in the past two years has built two new substations: Cooks Hill and North Port.
Now, with over $24 million in capital improvements on the slate, City Light will rebuild its antiquated B Street Substation and build another new substation at Salzer Valley.
The Salzer Valley project will cost nearly $5 million, with completion possibly in 2013.
Additionally, an old overhead distribution feeder that powers Providence Centralia Hospital from the Cooks Hill Substation is in need of replacing. It maxes out during cold weather and sags from the extra load’s heat, putting it at risk of shorting out where it runs through trees and over houses and barns in the area.
That project will cost an estimated $1.3 million.
Other improvements to City Light’s transmission lines and its Yelm hydropower facility are part of the utility’s upgrades to aging electrical system.
Centralia City Light Director Ed Williams said the utility’s average annual budget is $18 million. The $24 million in improvements will be covered mainly through bonding, about 60 percent, and with cash at about 40 percent.
