PUD accepts bid for Westend substation

The Wahkiakum County PUD Board of Commissioners reconvened last Thursday to approve a bid for the Grays River substation project scheduled for later this year.

The PUD received three bids. Following a recommendation from engineers at Brown & Kysar, Inc., they decided to accept the lowest bid from Power Technology, Inc. in the amount of $314,167.10. PTI is available to begin work in late July, and estimates that the project will take 47 days to complete.

“I have signed the bid award and it will be delivered to PTI today,” Wahkiakum PUD General Manager Dave Tramblie wrote in an email on Tuesday. “They have three days to sign and provide verification that they can perform, at least that’s what I hear from my engineer. The project will replace a transformer that is about 70 years old and we will install three new regulators (these are set to maintain a specific voltage as BPA’s voltage does fluctuate).

"We are replacing rigid buss with flexible conductor to make the connections, this will be beneficial if we have a large earthquake. We are doubling the capacity of the transformer which will help should we have growth, but it will also benefit our ability to serve Pacific PUD and their customers should the need arise.”

The highest bid came from Magnum Power, LLC in the amount of $419,955.