General

OPPD embraces newer, more efficient way to bring power to neighborhoods

With rapid population growth in eastern Nebraska, OPPD and housing developers are finding faster and easier ways to extend reliable electrical service to new neighborhoods.

One significant upgrade is front-lot ducted service, where housing developers install duct systems – essentially a 4-inch PVC pipe – in front yards to hold OPPD wires. Previously, OPPD buried wires in backyards.

The new process, adopted into OPPD’s engineering standards, gives developers and contractors more control over their schedules, saves them money and reduces the amount of time OPPD has to spend setting up service and fixing problems.

A different approach

Homes have used underground cable for about 70 years. Many utilities, including OPPD, placed electrical equipment in backyards because homes traditionally had easily accessible alleys behind them. Backyards were simpler and easier to navigate, with fewer swimming pools and privacy fences and less elaborate landscaping.

Now, backyard utility equipment is often hidden behind plants, swing sets, outdoor furniture and other decorations. Some homeowners bury electrical equipment, making it even harder for OPPD workers to access.

“People have become very protective of their back yards,” said Todd McLochlin, OPPD’s manager of utilities coordination. “Access is always an issue, as is the safety of our employees. These same employees are at risk of injury from a multitude of sources, especially when accessing these lots in the dark.”

Easy access also helps during outages, reducing the need for line crews to carry heavy gear through gates an into backyards.

Many large cities – such as Denver, Austin and St. Louis – already use front-yard ducted systems, said Wyndle Young, OPPD’s director of Customer Service and Government Infrastructure. The ducts are buried four feet deep, with a connection point between a home and underground lines that utility workers can easily access.

“This is a very common practice in larger, faster growing cities with increasing population density,” Young said.

Reasons for change

The change is driven by several factors, McLochlin said. Many backyard underground cables have aged past their typical, 50-year-lifespan, and others will too within the next decade. The number waiting for replacement throughout OPPD’s territory is “just astronomical,” McLochlin said.

Replacing backyard underground cables is also intrusive for property owners because it requires digging, which also carries the risk of accidentally cutting a sprinkler line or underground cables.

Greater electricity consumption is a factor as well. With front-lot ducting, OPPD can more easily upgrade service in an area if necessary to accommodate higher demand. Front-lot ducting is also useful during outages.

“It gives us a non-intrusive way to change out equipment,” McLochlin said. “It also usually gives our employees a lot more space to work.”

That, in turn, saves time and makes maintenance simpler, reducing OPPD’s future workload and costs. It also lowers injury risks for workers who might otherwise have to carry transformers and other heavy equipment into a backyard.

Typically, developers handle the installation of the duct systems and notify OPPD when a house or neighborhood is ready to be connected. That reduces wait times for both developers and OPPD.

Nebraska’s housing shortage

Eastern Nebraska faces a major housing shortage and developers are struggling to keep pace with demand as the local population grows.

Front-lot ducted service helps reduce construction costs. Installing backyard wires tends to take longer because trees, ravines and other obstacles get in the way. Front lots are usually clearer, so wires can go in faster.

Reducing installation times saves developers money because the developers are usually making monthly interest payments on construction loans, and interest rates have risen in the last few years.

McLochlin said OPPD front-lot ducted service is going into new developments and existing neighborhoods when a good opportunity arises. When the city widens a road, for instance, new front ducts can sometimes be installed.

Developers typically hire a contractor to insert the duct system. Then OPPD installs cables to connect a home for service.

The older backyard cables, and the work it takes to replace them, are an ongoing challenge that OPPD will face for years to come, McLochlin said. Splicing a damaged cable together can fix an electrical fault temporarily, but the rest of a damaged cable is still 50 to 60 years old. Such cables aren’t as well insulated due to the damage they’ve sustained.

The extra work of replacing underground cables also diverts resources away from OPPD and requires more workers to manage it.

Front-lot ducted systems will also make OPPD’s system more accessible for future maintenance and upgrades, McLochlin said.

“It just makes a lot of sense,” said Brian Kramer, OPPD’s senior director of Utility Operations, Construction & Maintenance. “It’s going to be easier, we can respond to it quicker, and it should be cheaper.”