Sierra Pacific Power Company
Contact: Karl Walquist/Robert Sagan
Phone: (775)834.4345

For Immediate Release

The reliability of South Lake Tahoe's electric service will be improved following upgrades currently under way at the Round Hill and Stateline electric substations. Sierra Pacific Power expects to have the $2.5 million project completed by the end of November.

With the addition of new equipment at the substations, Sierra Pacific will double its capacity to supply reliable power to customers served by the electric transmission"loop" formed by the Round Hill, Stateline and Meyers substations, according to Tahoe District Manager Wes Wiens.

All three substations are supplied with energy by separate 60,000-volt or 120,000-volt electric transmission lines that originate at the Buckeye Substation in the Carson Valley. In turn, the Buckeye Substation draws electricity from the Fort Churchill Power Plant near Yerington. Electric transmission lines also connect the substations at South Lake Tahoe to each other.

Once the new transformer and circuit breakers have been installed, Sierra Pacific can increase the capacity of the existing transmission line between the Round Hill and Stateline substations by raising the voltage from 14,000 volts to 120,000 volts. As a result, the utility will be able to transfer more power between South Shore locations when outages occur.

"What this means to customers is that any outages occurring as a result of storm damage or equipment failure affecting the South Lake Tahoe electric transmission system should be much shorter," Wiens explained.

The line between Round Hill and Stateline was built in 1992 with the capacity to carry 120,000 volts. It has been limited to the lower voltage pending completion of the substation upgrades, Wiens said.

The Round Hill Substation is located near the Round Hill Sewage Treatment Plant; the Stateline Substation is located along Montreal Road south of the Crescent V Shopping Center. Service to Sierra Pacific's 26,000 customers in the South Shore area will not be disrupted by the construction project, Wiens said.