Construction Season

It is a busy time of year for NLI lineworkers. Although crews can do construction projects during the winter, some are not feasible or take significantly more time. Generally, crews must wait out area road restrictions in early spring before going into construction season.

This summer, we have a few notable projects we plan to work on.

NLI recently bought a used substation transformer from a neighboring cooperative to increase capacity at NLI’s Lamb Creek Substation for the next two to 3 years until the new substation is built. This will be delivered and installed at the substation near Priest Lake in May.

Crews will take advantage of two overnight power outages scheduled by Bonneville Power Administration to work on its Priest River Substation. During the 2 overnight outages, NLI crews will replace poles on the main line and make substation repairs.

Other preparation work for the new Lamb Creek Substation will start this year, such as clearing trees to make room for the new substation farther back on NLI’s property.

Crews will upgrade a main feeder line along Highway 95 from the Samuels area north to Naples. This is a multiyear project that has been in the design and planning stages for a few years. This upgraded line will provide additional capacity, voltage support, and switching capabilities. It also will help when construction of the Samuels Substation upgrade gets underway in a few years.

Another summer project is upgrading a line on the north side of Bonners Ferry. This area has seen load growth and NLI is converting an existing one-phase line to 3 phases. This will provide additional capacity and allow the load to be balanced.

Crews will continue to be busy installing new services this year. In 2023, NLI had more than 400 requests for new services, and we are on pace to have a similar amount for 2024.

Behind the scenes, NLI’s engineering group is working on many other projects to be built over the next few years. Many of the bigger projects can take years to design, permit, procure materials, and build. A substation project from start to finish can take four to five years with current lead times on major materials.

NLI would like to thank our members for their patience when we have service disruptions for projects. This is all to benefit your co-op’s distribution system. NLI would also like to remind you to watch out and slow down for lineworkers and vegetation crews that may be working along the roadways this summer.