Totten Substation

With the Skookum substation nearing capacity, the PUD is in the process of building the “Totten Substation” which will be a 25 MVA substation. It will serve customers in the south east area of Mason County at the request of the Squaxin Tribe for future growth and expansion of its enterprise including the Little Creek Casino. Approximately 15MVA of the capacity is committed to the tribe. It is the first substation to be built using the system capacity funds and is estimated to cost approximately $3.5 million and be completed in the first quarter of 2020.

The substation will be located on Lynch Rd. just past Taylor Shellfish on the right hand side, located on two acres that the PUD purchased from Taylor Shellfish in 2018.

As you can see below, the PUD has 11 substations in its district and the Totten sub will make 12. It owns all of its own substations with the exception of the Potlatch substation, which is owned and operated by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Any time the PUD wishes to add a substation it must conduct a line load study with the BPA to ensure the capacity would be available well into the future.

Project Timelines & Updates:

Skookum Tap: Michaels Construction was awarded the bid to prepare the Skookum substation for the “tap” which will provide the ability to connect the two substations together and to BPA’s transmission system. This work was completed in April of 2019.

Transmission: Magnum Power is building a 115kV transmission line from the new tap at the Skookum substation to the new Totten substation. This includes a cross over Highway 101. This work is anticipated to be complete in late May

Transformer: The 15/20/25 MVA transformer was ordered and expected to arrive in August of 2019. Transformers are typically the most expensive part of constructing a new substation and this is no exception. This transformer cost approximately $580,000.

Totten Substation: The new substation itself is in the design stages and construction is expected to start in July of 2019. If all goes well, it should be completed prior to its original completion date of first quarter 2020.