Burns & McDonnell completes construction of Quenett Creek Substation

Burns & McDonnell has completed design and construction of the new 230kV Quenett Creek Substation for Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) near the Columbia River in The Dalles in Oregon.

The Quenett Creek Substation has been built to address the surging power demand east of Portland in various regions served by the Bonneville Power Administration.

Completed in May 2019, the greenfield substation project will boost the availability of power in rural and growing communities along and near the Oregon-Washington border.

Burns & McDonnell, which began construction on the Quenett Creek Substation in January 2018, partnered with Henkels & McCoy, Cougar Construction and K&E Excavating to deliver engineer-procure-construct (EPC) services. The substation project has been built to accommodate the increasing power demand of the Northern Wasco County People’s Utility District (NWCPUD), which includes a new customer-owned data center.

Quenett Creek Substation. Photo courtesy of Burns & McDonnell.

Mark Lichtwardt – senior vice president and general manager for Burns & McDonnell in Denver, Colorado, and Portland, Oregon, commenting on the completion of the Quenett Creek Substation, said: “We were honored to join forces with the BPA and our subcontractors to deliver a reliable energy system that will power businesses and homes within the community for years to come.

“From the early design phases to the final construction stages, the team worked around the clock to deliver a successful project on time and under budget, optimizing BPA’s electrical infrastructure system.”

Burns & McDonnell also said that upgrades to the Big Eddy substation near Columbia View Heights and the Chenoweth substation near Chenoweth Creek were wrapped up for interconnecting the power grid.