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The Bureau of Reclamation awarded a $4 Million design and construction contract to Burke Electric, Bellevue, Wash., to replace a 30-year-old relay system that protects and monitors high voltage power lines linked to Grand Coulee Dam’s generators and switchyards.

The Bonneville Power Administration is funding the project, which includes installing a new relay system for seven transmission lines between the 500-kV and 230-kV switchyards and Grand Coulee Dam’s Third Powerplant. Work also includes furnishing and installing several miles of fiber optic cable for relay communications between the switchyards and power plants.

"Upgrading these transmission lines is essential to improving our infrastructure at Grand Coulee Dam and sustaining a steady supply of hydroelectricity throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond," Reclamation Commissioner Michael L. Connor said today. "This investment to modernize one of the nation’s key renewable energy facilities will also bring jobs and an infusion of new dollars for the local economy."

Construction will begin this fall and will be completed by April 30, 2014.