Recloser Installation Project

Location: System Wide

UEC has embarked on a multi-year project, installing reclosers designed to increase efficiency and reliability of the cooperative’s power system.

Construction Schedule

Project Began: 2021

Estimated Project Completion: 2026

Details:

Traditionally, restoring outages has been a manual and time-consuming process for electric utilities. With limited information, restoring power often required intensive field work to identify and correct the issue or isolate lines while restoring power safely.

In recent years, UEC has upgraded its control and data system, outage management software and other equipment to help operators at its command center in Hermiston more quickly detect outages and more accurately predict their location, without the time-consuming need to send a crew to manually check miles of power lines. The new reclosers build upon that system.

Most similar to a circuit breaker in a home, a recloser on a power pole performs its job when trouble occurs. There are many instances when trouble is fleeting, such as when a tree branch brushes against a line or the wind slaps two wires together.

A recloser stops the flow of electricity, then immediately tries to restore it if it’s temporary. (When your lights flicker, it may be a recloser doing its job.) This automatic circuit recloser – a technology that dates back nearly a century – can eliminate prolonged or unnecessary outages.

What Is The Process?

• The project began in 2021 replacing the most dated reclosers east of Pendleton. As the project has continued west, a total of 66 new reclosers will be installed at locations throughout UEC’s system where they will have the greatest impact.
• 2025: This year, recloser replacements will take place in rural areas southeast of Hermiston