Related News
Related News
-
EWEB opens application for 2024 Electric Mobility Community Grants
Grant awards of up to $30,000 to cover costs associated with electric mobility projects.
Find Out More -
Upgrades to Eugene's downtown electric network continue
You may have noticed construction this week on the corner of 7th and Pearl Street. That’s because crews replaced a corroded, aging vault with an innovative, new Voltek vault. The Voltek design allows for the new infrastructure to be built inside of the existing aging vault. We’re able to install the new vault while the cables are still energized, minimizing disruption to customers and traffic while cutting construction time in half.
Find Out More -
The Big Freeze 2024: After Action Report
Winter 2024 was one for the records books, and we'll look back on it for years to come and say, "That was a doozy!" The back-to-back January Ice Storms caused widespread damage to EWEB’s service territory, affecting approximately 38,000 customers. Preliminary repair costs were over $8 million, and additional repairs to transmission lines are still required.
Find Out More -
New tanks come online as EWEB modernizes water system
New drinking water storage tanks are one of several investments to ensure that EWEB can meet critical community needs in the event of an earthquake.
Find Out More -
Celebrate Earth Month by taking charge of your home's energy use
This Earth Month, learn how you can reduce your energy usage to help protect our planet and reduce carbon emissions.
Find Out More -
Spring Cleaning? How about Spring Emergency Preparedness!
Spring is officially here and that means the plants are blooming, the sun is (sometimes) shining, and the grass is green! We've had our fair share of severe weather already, but spring weather is notoriously unpredictable. While you're in the midst of spring cleaning and garden care, consider completing these emergency preparedness tasks.
Find Out More -
Nine days without power: My ice storm story as an EWEB customer and employee
While beautiful and peaceful, buying a home on the edge of the forest and surrounded by trees has its tradeoffs. Moving “upriver,” I knew there would be more threats to prepare for, including Mother Nature’s seasonal surprises.
Find Out More -
EWEB crews focusing on restoring electric service for Hayden Bridge Water Filtration Plant
With more ice forecasted for Tuesday, all EWEB crews are in the field assessing outages and restoring power.
Find Out More -
Leaburg Decommissioning Action Plan
Plan details next steps through regulatory processes to begin dismantling Leaburg Dam by 2032.
Find Out More -
Start the New Year saving money with energy saving tips
We know that saving money is important to our customers. Using energy and water wisely is a great way to reduce your monthly utility bill, even as the costs of electricity and water rise. EWEB has several steps you can take to reduce your usage and even make your home feel more comfortable.
Find Out More -
Currin Substation: End of year update
EWEB Engineer Philip Peterson explains what's been happening in the final stretch to complete the substation rebuild.
Find Out More -
EWEB Recognized with Excellence in Communications Awards from American Public Power Association
We are proud to have been recognized with two Excellence in Public Power Communications Awards for 2023 from the American Public Power Association (APPA).
Find Out More -
Let's talk turkey. If a disaster strikes, is your family ready?
Many of us avoid discussing politics over the dinner table in the spirit of family peace and harmony. But here's a topic that can bring everyone together: emergency preparedness.
Find Out More -
EWEB To Hold First of Two Public Hearings on Proposed 2024 Budget and Prices
At the Nov. 7 Board of Commissioners meeting, EWEB staff will present a proposed budget that includes rate increases necessary to support utility operations and make needed infrastructure investments.
Find Out More -
EWEB now offering a Smart Thermostat rebate program
EWEB is excited to announce a new residential rebate program to provide electric customers with free or greatly discounted Smart Thermostats to customers whose primary source of heating is from an electric forced-air furnace or heat pump.
Find Out More - Show More
Substations – The resilient spine of EWEB’s electric system
July 27, 2023 • Robyn Smith, EWEB Communications
“The resilience of the distribution system is based on three elements: damage prevention, system recovery, and functional survivability.” – Electric Power Research Institute
Thirty-eight substations, often called EWEB's "resilient spine," connect the utility's electric grid. The redundancy of substations in the system ensures reliable power flows to homes and businesses despite unexpected equipment failures and routine maintenance.
"EWEB's transmission and distribution system sometimes is referred to as overbuilt – but that's simply not true!" said Tyler Nice, EWEB electric operations manager. “When one part fails, we can lean on another part of the system. This is redundancy, not waste. And redundancy makes us more resilient to both small problems and major disasters.”
From the 1960s to the 1980s, Eugene was growing fast as new residents and industries moved to the area. EWEB engineers were challenged to accommodate a rapidly expanding city to keep up with the growing electricity demand. They had the ingenuity and the space to design a grid to accommodate growth and expanded load capacity. They did this by creating a redundant substation system where if one substation or part of the system goes down, another part can pick up the slack on the same electric circuit.
Substations change, or "step down," high voltage electricity from power generation stations to levels that can be safely distributed to homes and businesses. The Currin Substation, near Garden Way and I-5, is under construction, which means the power Currin usually distributes is being distributed from other substations that can temporarily handle the extra load capacity – thanks to the redundant design of EWEB's infrastructure.
"The flexibility provided by EWEB's past design decisions has put us in a good place to accommodate changing demands today, such as electrification and EV adoption," said Nice. "We are unique and lucky in that most other systems at other utilities, serving a similar customer base, are not typically as robust and redundant as ours."
Utility infrastructure is a complex system that requires investment and maintenance to provide constant, reliable power. When electricity is so reliable and accessible with a simple flip of the switch, it can be easy to overlook what it takes to maintain a reliable electric grid.
EWEB tracks electric reliability through metrics like the average duration and frequency of outages. But resiliency is not entirely measurable. Instead, it’s a characteristic of a distribution system that demonstrates incident prevention, recovery, and survivability. The redundancy in EWEB’s system helps the utility recover faster from equipment damage, reduces the occurrence of prolonged outages, and sustains the functional life span of equipment by distributing load capacity between multiple substations when needed.
While EWEB is fortunate to have a system designed for resiliency, the utility must maintain this characteristic to supply reliable power for generations to come. With so much of EWEB's electric infrastructure built around the same time, we have arrived at an aging infrastructure bubble. The equipment installed 50 to 60 years ago during Eugene's building boom is reaching the end of its useful life and no longer meets modern systematic expectations.
Currin is the first of ten substations scheduled for a rebuild over the next ten years as part of EWEB's major infrastructure investments through our Capital Improvement Plan for rehabilitating, replacing, and installing new infrastructure to maintain system resiliency.
We're partnering with you on a reliable future
To ensure a reliable tomorrow, we need to put in the work today, and the rates you pay as an EWEB customer help us do just that. In 2022, for the first time in five years, EWEB's utility rates increased. Rising costs from inflation, near-term supply chain shortages, and the need to upgrade aging infrastructure require an increase in the fees we charge for water and electric services. A percentage of your rates will help fund a new era of distribution infrastructure, providing reliable power for customers for the next half a century and beyond.
Learn more at eweb.org/electricreliability.