Burns & McDonnell recently completed design and construction of the new Quenett Creek Substation to meet increasing power demand east of Portland, Oregon, and in several areas served by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). A greenfield project, the new 230-kV substation is located near the Columbia River in The Dalles, Oregon.
Quenett Creek increases the availability of electricity in rural and growing communities along and near the Oregon-Washington border. These include The Dalles, Cascade Locks, Durfur, Fossil, Hood River, Tygh Valley and others in Oregon, along with Dallesport, Goldendale, Lyle and others in southern Washington.
Work on the project began in January 2018. Burns & McDonnell partnered with the BPA, Henkels & McCoy, Cougar Construction, and K&E Excavating to provide engineer-procure-construct (EPC) services to accommodate the growing power demand of the Northern Wasco County People's Utility District (NWCPUD), including a new customer-owned data center.
"We were honored to join forces with the BPA and our subcontractors to deliver a reliable energy system that will power businesses and homes within the community for years to come," says Mark Lichtwardt, senior vice president and general manager for Burns & McDonnell in Denver, Colorado, and Portland, Oregon. "From the early design phases to the final construction stages, the team worked around the clock to deliver a successful project on time and under budget, optimizing the BPA's electrical infrastructure system."
Burns & McDonnell also upgraded the Big Eddy substation near Columbia View Heights and the Chenoweth substation near Chenoweth Creek for interconnecting the grid.
