With the completion of the E.E. Clouse substation in Goldendale, which was energized on March 14, 2002, Klickitat PUD is well on the way to reducing outage times on the line from BPA into Goldendale.

"This project represents a fundamental change for the PUD," said Jim Smith, KPUD Engineering Manager. "You won't find a more technologically advanced substation anywhere, and we built it economically." Smith said that the E.E. Clouse substation represents 4% of the total facilities belonging to KPUD, and is 10 times bigger than the average substation project that KPUD has done in the past.

Emmet E. Clouse, who passed away in 1994, was the General Manager for Klickitat PUD from 1940 to 1977, and is the first PUD employee to have a facility named for him. After WWII, Emmet helped start Ruralite magazine to provide information to rural people on how to put electricity to work for them efficiently and safely.

"Emmet had an uncommon ability to envision the needs of people and communities and respond with solution, whatever it took. For him, the PUD was a vehicle to get things done to improve people's lives," wrote Commissioner Harold Hill in 1994.

"As much as anyone I have known, Emmet had that rare leadership ability to plant ideas and then step back to let you work them out," wrote Hill. "He never tried to strong-arm the board of commissioners into doing anything. He quietly presented the facts, gave his opinions, and then left it to us to make our own decision - which was almost always the one Emmet had already reached."

Currently, the substation is supplying a service at 4,160 volts to Calpine for auxiliary power needs because their 230 kV transformer is not ready to energize. When the transmission line is complete on May 3, and GEI begins commercial operation in July, outage times on the line feeding power from BPA to Goldendale will be significantly reduced.

Smith said that in the past, an outage on the only line feeding power from BPA to Goldendale normally took BPA anywhere from 2 to 8 hours to restore, and took out 2/3 of the service territory, which is 50% of KPUD's customers. When the GEI project was proposed, engineers knew a second transmission line would be required for the Goldendale area.

"We proposed expanding the substation facilities, and integrating them into our system to benefit our customers," said Smith.

With the completion of the transmission line, an outage on the BPA line would last less than an hour, because there is an alternate source. The delay of an hour would be due to the switch being made manually. With the completion of the GEI project and related facilities, even more benefits will be apparent, including outage times dropping to a matter of seconds.

"It will serve us financially in the long run, and give us a better system too," Smith said. "When power can be restored almost instantly, it means that during a major outage, kids won't get sent home from school, the hospital won't have to turn on their generators, and businesses won't be closed for the day."

"The substation adds infrastructure for KPUD to upgrade our sub-transmission systems," said Smith. "The equipment in it will allow for savings on facility upgrades throughout the system at a later date."

Smith said some of the benefits of the substation include adding more capacity in Goldendale, which potentially increases reliability, and the facilities will help implement long-range transmission plans for KPUD.

An Open House and dedication ceremony for the E.E. Clouse substation will be scheduled after the transmission line is complete.

KPUD commissioners and staff, and elected officials, have toured the new facility. Smith said he welcomes school groups who would like to tour the facility as part of an electrical safety program. Tours can be scheduled by calling Staci Taylor at 509-773-7612. Top, from left, Engineering Manager Jim Smith shows Senator Jim Honeyford and Representative Bruce Chandler around the new E.E. Clouse Substation. Above, the substation was energized in March.