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Seattle City Light Names Tree Line USA Utility by Arbor Day Foundation

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Photo of volunteers planting trees.

Seattle City Light employee volunteers and community members plant trees during Seattle’s 2012 Arbor Day celebration.

 

Seattle City Light was named a Tree Line USA Utility for 2013 by the Arbor Day Foundation for best practices in protecting and enhancing the urban forests in its service territory.

The award, presented in cooperation with the National Association of State Foresters, promotes the dual goals of safe, reliable electric service and abundant, healthy trees across utility service areas.

“A healthy urban forest is one of the great parts of living in the greater Seattle area,” City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco said. “City Light’s Vegetation Management Unit works diligently to support healthy trees and reduce conflicts between trees and our power lines. This is one more way we are demonstrating our commitment to delivering low-cost, reliable and environmentally responsible electricity to our customers.”

 

Photo of Tree Line USA Utility award.

Seattle City Light is a Tree Line USA Utility for 2013.

The Tree Line USA program seeks to promote best practices in utility arboriculture and public education through five core standards:

  • Quality tree care
  • Annual worker training
  • Tree planting and public education
  • Operating a formal tree-based energy conservation program that makes special consideration of the value of trees in conserving energy
  • And hosting an Arbor Day celebration.

City Light’s achievement makes Seattle one of only three cities in Washington to be recognized with all three awards from the Arbor Day Foundation – Tree Line USA Utility, Tree City USA (City of Seattle) and Tree Campus USA (University of Washington). The others were Vancouver with Clark College and Tacoma with Pacific Lutheran University. Only 144 utilities in the United States earned Tree Line USA status. Other cities in Seattle City Light’s service territory that achieved the Tree City USA designation are Burien, Lake Forest Park, Renton, Shoreline and Tukwila.

“Urban trees increase property values, clean our air and water, and improve people’s overall health,” said State Forester Aaron Everett. “Balancing these benefits with the need for reliable electric service can be a tough job, but Seattle City Light consistently goes above and beyond in meeting nationally recognized standards.”

Seattle City Light is the 10th largest public electric utility in the United States.  It has some of the lowest cost customer rates of any urban utility, providing reliable, renewable and environmentally responsible power to nearly 1 million Seattle area residents.  City Light has been greenhouse gas neutral since 2005, the first electric utility in the nation to achieve that distinction.

Arboretum Drive Gets a Multi-agency Makeover

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How many public agencies does it take to give Arboretum Drive a facelift?  Five, yes five – Seattle City Light, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), Seattle Parks and Recreation, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), and the University of Washington.  

Why so many? The Arboretum is unique – a hidden gem tucked away on the shores of Lake Washington just south of WSDOT’s SR 520 Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. Jointly managed by the UW and the City of Seattle, the Arboretum’s 230 acres are a dynamic combination of plants found nowhere else.

Together with City Light, the recent work was coordinated and funded by SDOT, Seattle Parks and Recreation, WSDOT and the UW.  During the past summer and fall, the City and State partnered with the Arboretum to add a New Zealand Garden in addition to replacing streetlights;  spot paving along Lake Washington Boulevard; installing traffic calming devices; adding bicycle sharrows on the roadway; making crosswalk improvements, augmenting signage and other pedestrian enhancements; and trimming trees and maintaining the landscape.  

By working together, the six entities were able to accomplish a significant body of work while minimizing disruptions to park traffic and SR 520 commuters during peak travel times on Foster Island Road on the north end of the park to Arboretum Drive, on the south end of the park, and on Lake Washington Boulevard.

 

Photo of LED streetlight being installed.

Workers install one of the new LED streetlights.

The streetlight work involved far more than just replacing light bulbs; it included replacing the old underground direct-bury electrical cable with new cable, conduit, handholds, foundations, grounding/bonding, light poles, and 73 light-emitting diode (LED) boulevard-style lights.  Most of the ornamental high-pressure sodium luminaires and laminated poles were installed in the 1970s and at the end of their useful lives and failing. 

The project replaced old streetlights with boulevard-style LEDs that provide better light quality.  The LEDs offer a light that’s a whiter/cooler color rendering spectrum, similar to moonlight, which improves safety because of depth of field and peripheral vision is enhanced without the color distortion.  

 

Photo of LED streetlight.

Closeup of one of the new boulevard-style LED streetlights.

The LEDs are energy-efficient by providing a more stable, “cooler” burning light that lasts three to four times longer than the old luminaires while the greenhouse gas emissions are reduced during manufacturing and usage. In addition, heavy metals were removed that are found in high-pressure sodium lighting. These new lights require fewer service vehicle trips for repairs, which means a further reduction of carbon each year. Their better service reliability and lower maintenance costs, save taxpayer money over time. City Light also used a boring and trenching technique to install the conduits to protect the Arboretum’s historic trees from root damage. 

 

Photo of an old streetlight next to its replacement.

A worker installs a new boulevard-style LED streetlight next to one of the old lights that was later removed.

The Washington Park Arboretum safety and landscape improvements support and enrich the park’s master plan goals of education, conservation, providing recreation and visitor services, and rehabilitation of the Arboretum infrastructure for generations to come.  

Power Restored for UW Area

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Seattle City Light repair crews restored power Wednesday morning to the final 245 customers affected by the failure of splices on two underground, main stem power lines near University Bridge.

The power outage started Tuesday about 5:30 a.m. and initially affected about 2,000 customers in the U District, Ravenna and Laurelhurst. Crews isolated the damage and restored most customers by about 8:30 a.m.

To restore service for the remaining buildings within the general boundaries of NE Campus Drive on the north, Lake Washington on the south, Eastlake Avenue on the west and 15th Avenue NE on the east, crews replaced both cables damaged by the splice failures. Work was completed about 5 a.m. Wednesday.

UW Power Outage Down to 245 Buildings

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Seattle City Light crews continue working to restore service to 245 buildings on the University of Washington campus that remain without power.

The outage started about 5:30 a.m. and initially affected about 2,000 homes and businesses in Ravenna and Laurelhurst in addition to parts of the university campus.

Repair crews have found failed splices in two underground, main stem feeder lines that provide power to the area. Crews might not be able to resplice the cables, which would require replacement of the cables. That work could take eight to 12 hours, which would put the estimate for restoration of service for sometime between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.

The general boundaries of the outage are NE campus Parkway on the north, Lake Washington on the south, Eastlake Avenue NE on the west and 15th Avenue NE on the east. Not all buildings within that area are affected.

Updates are available from our online system status map at www.seattle.gov/light/sysstat

Failed Switch Caused Outage in Ravenna, Wedgwood, View Ridge, U District

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A failed switch was the cause of a power outage that affected about 3,600 customers in the Ravenna, Wedgwood, View Ridge and University District neighborhoods, including the University of Washington.

The outage started about 8:15 p.m. Within 30 minutes, crews had isolated the damaged area, reducing the number of customers without service to about 150. The underground crew working to repair the failed switch expected to restore most of those customers by 11:30 p.m. Full restoration was expected around midnight.

The general boundaries of the initial outage were 95th Street on the north, 65th Street and part of the UW campus on the south, Lake City Way on the west and Sand Point Way on the east.

For updates, please see our system status map.

Power Outage in Ravenna, Wedgwood, View Ridge, U District

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About 3,600 customers in Ravenna, Wedgwood, View Ridge and the University District, including part of the University of Washington campus, lost power about 8:15 p.m. today.

The cause of the outge was not immediately known. Seattle City Light crews were dispatched immediately to determine the cause and make repairs. They isolated the outage by 8:45 to about 200 customers. An initial estimate for full restoration of service to all customers was set for midnight.

The general boundaries of the outage were 95th Street on the north, 65th Street on the south, Lake City Way on the west and Sand Point Way on the east. Not all customers in that area were affected. Please refer to our system status map for updates.

DOE selects NW and Seattle City Light for Smart Grid demo

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RICHLAND, Wash. – The Department of Energy has selected a Pacific Northwest team, including Seattle City Light, to conduct a regional smart grid demonstration project designed to expand upon existing electric infrastructure and test new smart grid technology with up to 60,000 customers in five states.  

The Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project was the largest of 16 demonstration projects announced by DOE today (http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8305.htm). The Pacific Northwest team combines energy providers, utilities, vendors and research organizations. 

Total estimated cost for the project is $178 million.  DOE will provide half the funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  The project’s participants, primarily utilities and industry team members, including Seattle City Light, will provide the remaining funds.

The Northwest study will involve more than 60,000 metered customers in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.  Using smart grid technologies, the study will test new combinations of devices, software and advanced analytical tools that enhance the power grid’s reliability and performance.

Seattle City Light, the University of Washington and their project manager, McKinstry Energy Services, will be developing a $9.6M smart micro grid project with four major components:

  • Install utility-grade “smart meters” that can monitor electric consumption for 200 buildings on the university’s campus;
  • Upgrade and create a common communication capability for the 33 individual building management systems currently in use across the campus;
  • Install data management equipment at one location to allow a regional grid operator to monitor and control energy uses and important generation assets, such as solar panels, steam turbines or emergency diesel generators;
  • And install monitoring and control equipment in two lab or classroom buildings and two dormitories. This will allow UW administrators to better understand how energy is used on campus and apply that knowledge in ways to better manage their facilities and control energy costs.

At its peak, the DOE project could create about 1,500 total jobs in manufacturing, installation and operating smart grid equipment, telecommunications networks, software and controls in the five states.

“Seattle City Light wanted to be a part of this smart grid project team,” Superintendent Jorge Carrasco said. “This is another step in our efforts to move to a different relationship with our customers in energy management.  Advances in this area could help our customers reduce their energy consumption, shorten our restoration times for outages, and increase the overall efficiency of our distribution system.”

The project team will install equipment and technology in 2010 and 2011.  Then, for the next two to three years, project leaders will gather data on smart grid performance from 15 test sites that represent the region’s diverse terrain, weather, and demographics.  The test sites range from Fox Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound, to the Teton Mountains in western Wyoming, and include the campuses at the University of Washington and Washington State University. 

“This will be a wonderful test vehicle for our researchers to investigate the deployment of smart-grid technologies,” said Matthew O’Donnell, Dean of the UW’s College of Engineering. “Having users on campus will allow us to do rapid-cycle testing of important concepts related to user interface and cyber-security.”  The project will involve more than 112 megawatts of power, enough to serve 86,000 households.  

In 2006, the region participated in the DOE-funded Pacific Northwest GridWise Demonstration Project on the Olympic Peninsula.  The project was designed to test and speed adoption of new smart grid technologies that can make the power grid more resilient and efficient.  The study showed that advanced technologies enabled consumers to be active participants in improving power grid efficiency and reliability, while saving about 10 percent on their electricity bills in the process.  The new project builds on those results expanding the scale of the effort and introducing additional technologies.

Smart grid technology includes everything from interactive appliances in homes to substation automation and sensors on transmission lines.  It is a system that uses various technologies to improve power delivery and use through intelligent, two-way communication.  Generators of electricity, suppliers and users are all part of the equation.  With increased communication and information, smart grid technology enables real time monitoring of electric energy use, exchange of data about supply and demand and adjustments of power use to changing load requirements. 

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