West River Electric Association, Inc. (WREA)

West River Electric Cooperative

 

 

 

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Grid Deployment Office, Award Number DE-GD0000885.

Consortium Member Information

West River Electric Association (WREA) provides safe, reliable and affordable energy and services that improve the quality of life for our members and their communities. Founded in 1939, WREA serves more than 15,000 members in Western South Dakota, in Haakon, Jackson, Meade, Oglala Lakota, Pennington, and Ziebach Counties. WREA’s peak demand is 85 MW, with 2,279 miles of energized power lines, and 59 employees.

West River Electric Association is a member of a consortium of 37 electric co-ops and other rural utilities selected to receive federal funding through the Wildfire Assessment and Resilience for Networks project or WARN. WARN projects will modernize and strengthen our nation’s electric grid, protecting customers’ access to electricity during wildfires and mitigating the risk of wildfires due to our nation’s aging transmission and distribution infrastructure.

Project Description

WREA has proposed to replace overhead powerlines with underground lines in Pennington County in the Rapid City area. This project will eliminate wildfire risks inherent for overhead power line conductor and overhead recloser operations. The estimated project cost including ditching, labor and materials is around $2.8 million dollars.

Benefits

Undergrounding powerlines makes the electric system safer, stronger, more reliable, and more affordable. This project will prevent wildfires caused by powerlines or equipment. It also significantly hardens the system to protect it from wildfire caused by natural or human factors in this area.

Communities and Consumers Impacted

The project area is located along Radar Hill Road, near the Rapid City Regional Airport. The project would underground 5.3 miles of line to reduce the risk of wildfire. Per the 2020 United States Census, Rapid City’s population is 74,703. The area includes residential homes as well as biking and hiking trails used by those living in the surrounding area.

Timeline

The project will take approximately 2 years, with construction broken up into four stages to be completed in the months of April through November in consecutive years.

  • Design: 3-6 months
  • Permitting: Overhead easements will be replaced with underground easements.
  • Construction: April – November 2026-2027. Undergrounding a distribution line along the road will require some level of traffic control, and the operation of large excavation equipment along with maneuvering large reels of primary cable. Some disruption to traffic flow is inevitable.
  • Operation: Moving overhead electrical systems to underground includes converting overhead services to underground services requiring utility line workers and operations personnel.

More Information

Additional questions should be directed to:

Robert Raker
CEO / General Manager
605-393-1500
robert.raker@westriver.coop

Project Map

Figure 1: Approximate boundary of overhead lines (solid red) to be converted to underground
Figure 1: Approximate boundary of overhead lines (solid red) to be converted to underground