Wwp Stringing New Lines To Lighten Load

Washington Water Power Co. will spend $5 million this year to lessen the power load on its stressed-out transmission system in Coeur d’Alene.

A new 115 kilovolt switching station south of Ramsey Road and Kathleen Avenue will back up other switching stations in the area. But in order to make the system work, a new set of transmission lines needs to be run between the Dalton Gardens area and Rathdrum, said Bob Mansfield, an engineer with WWP.

Just where the new lines will be strung will be decided in part by merchants and residents along Government Way and U.S. Highway 95, Mansfield said. WWP has canvassed the area to find out which route would work best, he said.

“People we’ve talked with understand the need for the lines,” Mansfield said. “We’re trying to be as frank as we can with them about what this would look like in front of their businesses.”

Early returns show that Highway 95 would be the better route, said Paul Anderson, the Coeur d’Alene area manager for WWP.

“In the past, we may have just gone ahead and put these kinds of lines in where we thought they should go,” Anderson said. “Now we’re trying to get an idea from the public as to where the best fit would be.”

With all the recent development in Kootenai County, WWP’s system has been pushed to the limit, Mansfield said. The improvements will decrease the possibility of small outages and increase the load the system can handle.