Versant crews will upgrade an additional 6 miles of transmission line in northern Maine

Presque Isle, ME- Earlier this month, Versant Power crews began the second phase of a multi-year project to replace over 40 miles of poles and structures in St. John Valley. Six miles of weakened equipment that is over sixty years old will be removed and replaced from Hamlin to Van Buren. The work follows the first phase of the rebuild, six miles of line completed last September.

About 10,000 customers will benefit from these upgrades, including Van Buren Light and Power and the line that crosses the border in Madawaska. These improvements will also allow the line to be tied to Madawaska, Fort Kent, Cross Lake, and New Sweden if there is an outage.

“We’ve been making good progress so far, trimming the trees in the right of way as well as setting down all the matting to be able to get trucks in and work in the wetlands.” said Project Manager Sonny Sirois. “We have an internal crew with eight line workers from our Presque Isle division dedicated to completing the next 6 miles by the end of the summer.”

During this stage, crews will install about 120 poles and then transfer the upgraded wire to the new structures. Customers near the Crown of Maine will benefit from these upgrades. The biggest challenge so far has been the condition of the land: It has been very wet and muddy, and this makes it harder to mobilize the heavy equipment needed to complete this work since the new poles and structures are taller and larger. Crews have been working with contractors to take down hazardous trees as they rebuild the line.

    

         

(Above, left: Crews installing a new pole. Right: Contractor crews working on vegetation trimming)

“This project is a great example of teamwork.” said Sirois, “From the line inspectors using drones to assess the condition of the existing line, to the planners, contractors, and line workers, there is a lot of coordination that takes place to ensure that the project stays on track.”

The project is split into phases to be cost-effective and also to address assets that are in most need of repair first. After this project phase is complete, crews will continue replacing the structures heading towards the Limestone.

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