NLI’s Budgeting and Planning Process
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As we wind down 2023, we have been busy planning our projects and budgets for 2024. For our capital projects, planning is happening throughout the year and ramps up to form next year’s budget later in the year.
So how does NLI prioritize projects each year, including which line needs to have poles replaced, which underground cable needs to be replaced, or what substation needs improvements? This is the puzzle every year.
NLI has a 5-year construction work plan and a 10-year long-range plan. These plans look at load growth within each area for new connects and additional loads that a member may be adding to the system, such as adding more equipment to a manufacturing plant. This shows NLI’s engineering team where we will need to upsize conductors, cables, or substations to accommodate the growth.
Equipment and substation apparatus are replaced as needed or due to age or technology changes. A major substation project typically takes years to complete. NLI is working on an upgrade at our Samuels Substation. The large transformer was placed on order about a year ago and is not scheduled to arrive for another 3 years. This substation is being upgraded due to the age of the large substation transformer, the age of other equipment, and load growth.
The 5-year and 10-year plans lay out priorities and have a road map for different types of load growth projects. Many times, these are bigger projects that we specifically budget for in our capital budget, such as reconductor—or replace—6 miles of overhead power line with larger wire or the Samuels Substation upgrade.
NLI also looks at the age of lines and equipment to determine when something needs to be replaced. Depending on the line type, location, and age, poles and cables will be scheduled for replacement as they approach or meet certain age requirements. Our mapping system tracks data to help determine where aging poles are located.
NLI also reviews outage data. If there are trends, such as a particular section of underground cable experiencing numerous faults, this will be put on the replacement schedule. NLI budgets money to handle these types of projects each year.
The co-op has a subset of poles tested annually, typically using a contractor. This also helps determine where poles may need to be replaced due to rot or woodpecker destruction ahead of meeting the age requirement.
The capital budget provides NLI engineers and field crews with a road map to follow for the year to provide reliable, safe, and affordable power to our members. But if something breaks, our crews will be there to repair it as soon as they can.
Northern Lights Engineering & Operations Manager Kristin Mettke is an electrical engineer and has worked in the electric utility industry most of her career.
