Muscatine’s power grid going through upgrade for more reliability

For Muscatine Power and Water (MPW), reliable power is key. They are tasked with keeping homes comfortable and Muscatine's large industrial economy running. That's why they're focused on decreasing the risk of a widespan power outage, while also finding ways to make the grid easier and quicker to fix during an outage.

"An outage costs money," said Gage Huston, the general manager for MPW. "So, any time you can reduce those outage rates, it has a financial impact on the community as a whole."

MPW is directing efforts to put some of the above ground power lines under the ground.

"Underground circuits have a lower outage rate than overhead infrastructure," said Huston.

Burying the high voltage lines limits the danger. Weather can be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about what causes damage to power lines. That's far from the only factor.

"That's because there's less risk of trees, squirrels, other wildlife that cause outages on overhead infrastructure," said Huston.

Crews are currently working at sites in Fruitland and on 4th St. near downtown Muscatine. The projects cost about $2 million, with $1.3 million covered by a federal grant.

"When I see this (work) happening and I see the homes that are regular Americans and how they can benefit from this, it just brings meaning to my work," said Catherine Jereza, assistant secretary at the US Department of Energy.

In addition to moving the lines underground, MWP is also making them easier to maintain and fix in the event of an outage. In Muscatine, crews are installing smart fault indicators, helping them quickly identify where problems occur.

"That will send a signal back to our control center and so our operators back in our office will be able to see, ok this is where that fault occurred," said Huston. "So they can send the line crew out to respond right to that outage area."

Huston said there wasn't one outage event in specific that prompted the company to start burying power lines.

"I really think it's more about an evolution and just continuing to take the system to the next level," said Huston.

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