Thursday, November 5, 2009
Line Construction -- A Firsthand View
How many electrical contractors work on a construction site that’s 65 miles long? If you’re a line constructor, it’s no big deal.
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A couple weeks ago, I and several other staff from NECA's national office were invited to visit a line construction job site in Northern Virginia. We were hosted by NECA District 10 VP Bill Green and the L.E. Myers Company. The job was a 500kv transmission line being built for Dominion Virginia Power.
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The job had some unique aspects. It is being built on an existing right-of-way. The new line is being built next to an existing energized line. When the new line is finished, the old line will be dismantled. The right-of-way goes through a national park and a Civil War battlefield park and across a major interstate highway.
We were told that it was a real challenge for the contractor to work in such tight quarters. Usually when I think of tight working conditions, I envision a small utility closet, not wide open fields or several-acre substations. But I soon learned that building towers on a narrow right-of-way next to an existing energized line is no piece of cake. In fact, my vision of hanging from a steel tower was soon dashed — when we were emphatically told not to touch anything. There’s this small matter of induction.
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Safety is a big issue with line workers. We saw first-hand the extraordinary measures that are taken to ensure safe work practices. As the power lines crackled above us, it was obvious that even a small mistake can result in serious injury or death. The employer spends a lot of time and money to make sure each worker is trained in safety procedures before they get to the job site.
I was also struck by the investment in tools and equipment that the contractor had to make to work on a project like this. An electrician with a ladder and a pickup truck is a long way from becoming a transmission line constructor. The cost of one large crane is more than the annual revenues of many inside contractors.
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I’ve always had great respect for NECA’s District 10 members. It was good to get a chance to see first-hand the challenges of a line construction job and to gain an even deeper understanding of what it takes to be competitive in that market.
