OPALCO construction activities along Olga Road on Orcas Island, in the vicinity of the south boundary of Moran Park and the one-lane bridge, will limit traffic starting week of January 11, 2016 for a period of about four weeks. Delayed traffic and brief traffic stoppages can be expected. Most of the construction activities are expected to be completed by early February, contingent on weather delays.
This lengthy project is one of the last critical links in a multi-year, multi-phase effort to upgrade the electrical circuit between the Eastsound and Olga substations. The project will increase our capacity to re-route power during planned and emergency outages. Previous phases of this long-term OPALCO effort included replacing the old submarine cable circuit across Cascade Lake with new facilities along the roadside in a joint project with the Moran State Park Sewer System in 2009. The last segment of this line between Buck Bay and the Olga Substation is expected to be finished in the spring.
Check OPALCO Facebook page (Facebook/orcaspower), and Twitter (@orcaspower) for updates during the construction.
Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) is our member-owned cooperative electric utility,serving more than 11,000 members on 20 islands in San Juan County. OPALCO provides electricity that is 95% greenhouse-gas free and is generated predominantly by hydroelectric plants. OPALCO was founded in 1937.