Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Xcel Energy technicians work to replace poles and lines along a section of Silver Street at Hemlock Street in Ironwood near the Hurley border on April 22. The new lines will lead to the new Ironwood substation on South Lowell Street at West Pine Street.
By TOM LAVENTURE
Ironwood - A lot of power line work this week is part of a larger project that is designed to improve service in the Ironwood area, according to Xcel Energy.
Workers are installing new power line poles along the Michigan side of Silver Street near the Hurley border, according to Christine Ouellette, senior media relations representative for Xcel Energy's Michigan and Wisconsin office in Eau Claire. The work is to rebuild existing "feeder" lines that are coming out of the existing Ironwood substation, according to Xcel Energy.
"This is in preparation for the completion of the new Penokee Range substation which is under construction where our old shop used to be across the street from the existing substation," Ouellette said. "The new substation will have a higher distribution voltage so that it can be tied in with the other substations in the area, which will ultimately provide even more reliable service to our northern Wisconsin and Michigan customers."
The work requires additional safety steps to ensure social distancing procedures are followed by workers as much as is practical during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. Employees are scheduled with staggered start and stop times to reduce the number of people gathering at service centers at any given time.
Non-essential work that requires crews to enter homes or businesses has been suspended, she said. However, in some emergency cases such as to relight appliance pilot lights if natural gas service is disrupted, may require a worker to enter a home or business.
"Our focus is still to keep the lights on and the gas flowing, but do it as safely as possible for our employees and customers," Ouellette said.
Critical workers in the power plant control rooms, dispatch and the gas, electric and transmission control rooms are provided additional layers of protection, she said. This includes the surgical masks, thermometers for symptom self-checks and other personal protective equipment.
Personnel in the field are working on critical projects, she said. The crews are trained to practice social distancing when they need to encounter residents in or outside of homes, she said.
"We ask that you do not approach our workers," Ouellette said. "This helps maintain social distance to keep everyone safe and lets our workers concentrate on their critical jobs."
