Utility eyes way to stop damage

Birds blamed for power outages

Birds are becoming quite unwelcomed at the North Little Rock Electric Department’s Galloway 1 Substation off Interstate 40, city officials have said.

Power failures and damage to substation equipment caused by birds getting into arresters, or surge protection devices, is leading the city utility to propose spending $175,250 to purchase and have installed a custom-designed cover for its equipment to keep birds from squeezing into the substation.

“It’s just a piece of equipment they don’t need to be around, near or in and they’ve been getting around, near and in them and that causes outages,” said Andy Johnson, distribution engineer for the city utility.

The utility’s proposal will go before the North Little Rock City Council today to waive a formal bidding process and approve the payment. Funds will come from the Electric Department’s $97.6 million budget.

The legislation describes the “city’s priority to protect its facilities and equipment.” Transformers located within substations can cost up to $1 million and damaged equipment can take months to repair, according to the legislation.

The Electric Department has identified Greenjacket Inc. of Foothill Ranch, Calif., as the sole source of specialized insulators created to prevent power failures caused by wildlife at electric substations. The insulator will be manufactured to precisely fit North Little Rock Electric’s equipment, Johnson said.

“It will be a little bit more custom-made than a generic, over-the-counter cover,” he said. “We want it to cover that one piece of equipment and cover it well.

“There are a bunch of different pieces they [Greenjacket] will cover that would be deemed critical, or just a spot birds can easily get into,” Johnson said.

Besides protecting the Electric Department’s equipment, power failures caused by birds or other wildlife harm the utility’s customers, especially large businesses served by the Galloway 1 substation, off Exit 161 along I-40 on the far eastern part of the city.

“There’s not a ton of customers there, but it’s a pretty congested area of customers that have seen these outages,” Johnson said.

L’Oreal Maybelline, the Pilot Travel Center 24-hour truck stop and the Ben E. Keith Foods Mid-South Distribution Center are among large electric customers affected by any failures at Galloway 1 Substation.

“That particular substation controls a whole lot of production and jobs,” Mayor Joe Smith said. “It affects L’Oreal and Ben E. Keith. We can’t have those people’s power go down or be interrupted on a weekly basis.

“Knocking our biggest employers out of power frequently is not conducive to our businesses,” he said.

Earlier this year, North Little Rock Electric added 7-foot-high fencing at its Westgate substation near the Pike Avenue roundabout at a cost of $118,333 for its share to keep squirrels, raccoons and other wildlife from causing what had been frequent power failures in North Little Rock’s downtown. The Westgate substation services an area that includes Verizon Arena, Dickey-Stephens Park and the Wyndham Riverfront hotel.

The fencing and installation were also to protect a second substation at the same location owned by Entergy Arkansas. Entergy paid for its costs.