Customer:
Tacoma Power has been a public owned utility in Washington since 1893. It operates as follows:
- 180 square miles of service area
- 762 employees
- 166,770 residential customers (55% inside city limits; 45% outside city limits)
- 20,205 commercial customers
- 2,386 miles of transmission and distribution lines (1,524 overhead; 862 underground)
Challenge:
Looking to move on from conventional ferroresonant charger technology in preparation for NERC TPL-001-5 compliance, Tacoma Power engineers began researching modular switch mode technology with built-in redundancy to replace their current fleet of chargers.
Options:
Having supplied Tacoma Power with batteries and battery testers back in 2017, Eagle Eye was invited to be one of the suppliers of switch mode chargers to pilot with Tacoma’s Substation team a few years later.
Solution:
Streamlining its DC systems, Tacoma Power eventually decided to partner with Eagle Eye and order more BC-2500 chargers. And, eventually, in 2023, in anticipation of achieving NERC TPL-001-5 compliance throughout their Transmission substations over the next three years, the lead engineer for the utility’s battery systems, Saul Kirkman, PE, moved forward with a plan to swap out all current chargers with BC-2500s.
Implementation:
Working in close collaboration, the Tacoma and Eagle Eye teams engaged in a series of training sessions to ensure the long-term success and performance of the utility’s new chargers. This meant performing customized product training for both Tacoma Power’s Engineering and Operations (including field techs) teams.
Results:
Facilitating Tacoma Power’s desire to fast-track its charger changeouts fleetwide in time to comply with NERC TPL-001-5, the mutual investment in this project made by both partners, provided the utility with confidence in selecting Eagle Eye and the BC-2500 as the logical vendor and product of choice to make this happen.
This was formalized in a 3-year contract to outfit all substations with this modular charger beginning in 2024.
