BY KAREN BOSSICK
No need to duck for cover if you hear an explosion while passing through Hailey during the next three weeks.
Idaho Power Co. is using implosive devices to connect new wires as it continues work on the reconstruction of the King to Wood River 138-kV transmission line that runs from Hailey to the Snake River near Hagerman. Crews are currently working in the Deer Creek area; they will move to Croy Creek and Rock Creek when that's done.
The devices make a loud noise when attached, and there could be between six and 12 connections made a day, said Engineering Project Leader Tom Barber.
The explosive devices involve a metal sleeve surrounded by detonation cord. The force of the explosion crimps a tube on the wire, fusing it into one piece. The explosion creates a fireball six feet in diameter, which looks like a flash to the naked eye.
“It’s pretty cool,” added Jordan Rodriguez, corporate communications specialist. “It basically uses a small explosion to meld the wiring together. It is the quickest and most effective way—but also the loudest.”
The rebuild work is part of the Wood River Electrical Plan to enhance energy reliability in the valley, said Barber.
Even as workers worked on the line, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission approved a second power transmission line between Hailey and Ketchum on Friday.
The news about the controversial redundant line was met with dismay by local government officials and those who have been advocating against it.
“The $30 million that will be paying for this multi-year construction project up and down the middle of our valley will only benefit Idaho Power’s asset sheet,” said Ketchum City Councilman Michael David. “It won’t do much, if anything, for the community’s resiliency.”
“Unbelievable and so disheartening,” added Ketchum resident, Kerrin McCall, who has done a lot of work in the energy field.
The existing line was built in the 1960s but has only experienced a few hours of outage in the past three decades.
PUC commissioners wrote that they based their decision on evidence provided by Idaho Power that a major outage could take days or weeks to repair, given the mountainous terrain and access limitations. An outage could have severe impact on the hospital and other services, particularly if it occurred during winter, the findings concluded.
Ketchum Mayor Nina Jonas said her initial reaction was one of disappointment.
“After years of good faith efforts to collaborate with Idaho Power on solutions for energy reliability in the North Wood River Valley, they turned to their big brother, the Public Utilities Commission, to get what they wanted, shirking local concerns for a scenic corridor, meaningful energy reliability and ratepayer investment,” she said.
Jonas said the city was happy that the PUC advocated for the power lines to be placed underground orth of the Elkhorn light but lamented the effect overhead power lines would have on the aesthetics of the valley further south.
“Despite the reality of an existing transmission line that has been 99% effective, public comments predominately against a proposed redundant transmission line, the denial in the Blaine County permitting process for siting the redundant transmission line, and the public utilities commission’s own staff testifying that Idaho Power ‘did not demonstrate that a redundant line would provide a significant reliability benefit to justify its cost,’ the PUC nonetheless sided with Idaho Power to build another approximately 11-mile transmission line from Hailey to Ketchum for 30-plus million dollars charged to Idaho Power ratepayers.”
Jonas added that the line does not meaningfully increase energy reliability to the North Valley because it will not tap into a redundant source of energy.
“The power sources feeding the Hailey substation are well outside the valley where the grid failures have occurred causing previous major power outages,” she added.