Transmission & Distribution
Reliability is of extreme importance for WFEC, as employees continuously strive to provide this trait in all situations, from the uncontrollable forces of nature to the volatile market conditions.
Actually, maintaining and/or improving reliability levels for both generation and transmission assets is a leading everyday priority. This alone indicates the importance of seeing that dependable service is carried out on a day-to-day basis.
WFEC is prepared to immediately respond to outages, equipment failures or other related transmission problems through available resources.
What We Own & Maintain...
Transmission Lines:
WFEC owns more than 3,700 miles of transmission line that is operated and maintained by WFEC personnel. Maintaining this amount of transmission lines across the state is a major task for WFEC. For example, the miles of line are almost the equivalent of traveling across the country from Miami, Fla. to Olympia, Wash.
Substations:
WFEC owns and maintains more than 330 substations and switch stations, which serve its member systems. While most of the distribution substations are visited by the member systems’ personnel on a monthly basis, WFEC is responsible for all operations and maintenance from the low side of the distribution breaker back to the ultimate source. Personnel also make monthly inspections of all substations.
All transformers are continually monitored to meet the member load requirements in the area. WFEC maintains an inventory sufficient enough to support system reliability and limit outage time.
Who Keeps It Going...
Employees:
Anadarko-based employees who work in transmission and distribution (T&D) offer reliable service with a quick response. Departments included among these Anadarko-based employees are distribution services, station services and transmission services. Crews are on call 24 hours a day to ensure quality and dependable service.
There are also T&D employees who are located in outpost facilities across the WFEC service territory to expedite any service repairs and maintain reliable and dependable service in a timely manner. Since WFEC has the infrastructure available, it is felt that crews need to be close by to support it. Outpost locations include Elk City, Shawnee, Mooreland, Frederick, McAlester, Duncan, Hennessey, Antlers, and Kingston.
Maintenance Programs...
WFEC has pole, regulator and recloser replacement programs in place, through which maintenance plays a key role. Poles that may be showing signs of wear or equipment on the structures and in the stations that may be revealing initial signs of potential problems are being replaced or repaired before they become major problems. Insulators that tend to have a pattern of outages are also being replaced before conditions worsen.
WFEC’s vegetation management program is another crucial priority because unattended trees and foliage can cause major problems for a transmission system. However, this effective program, since its inception, has reduced WFEC’s system interruptions significantly.