PSE on Bainbridge Island

PSE has provided electric service to Bainbridge Island since the early 20th century, serving a population increasing from under 1,000 residents in 1950 to nearly 25,000 today.

We are working together with our customers to create a better energy future. Recently, we’ve made actions to:

Reduce our carbon footprint.
Work with the Washington State Legislature to craft feasible 100% clean electricity legislation.
Address the island’s electric needs.

A solar array on the roof of a house on Bainbridge Island, overlooking Puget Sound.

Reducing our carbon footprint

We're proud to serve Bainbridge Island, and we know you want cleaner sources of energy. And, so do we. Working together with our customers, we've already taken important steps in that direction, and recent action by the state legislature will allow us to accelerate our plans.

Our vision is a better energy future that balances our customers' desire for cleaner energy with their expectations for reliability, safety and affordability. We've long been proponents of clean, affordable energy - from the investments we've made in wind and energy, and steps to transition our state away from coal. In 2017, we committed to reducing our carbon footprint 50 percent by 2040, and the new clean energy law means we can move further, faster.

This year PSE worked alongside the Washington State Legislature to develop historic legislation to accelerate the transition to a clean energy future.

The Clean Energy Transformation Act accelerates our transition to a clean energy future, allowing us to move further, faster:

2025: Eliminate coal-fired resources
2030: Carbon-neutral energy supply
2045: Carbon-free electricity supply

Together with our Bainbridge Island customers, we'll improve reliability, ensure we can meet the community's energy needs and create a better energy future.

The sun sets behind several wind turbines at Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility.

Clean energy programs on Bainbridge Island

We continue to offer customers and communities industry-leading renewable energy programs – like Green Direct and Green Power – that allow them to reduce their carbon footprint.

Green Power and Solar Choice allow customers to match some or all of their electricity usage with renewable power or exclusively solar power, respectively. Customer Connected Solar helps customers with solar arrays use net metering to offset the cost of electricity they purchase with energy they generate.

Clean energy program enrollment on Bainbridge

Green Power: 1,319 homes and small businesses
Solar Choice: 139 customers
Customer Connected Solar: 277 customers participating for a combined 2 MW of solar

Large solar arrays in front of a blue sky at Wild Horse Wind and Solar Facility.

Investments and upgrades

Part of a better energy future on Bainbridge means improving reliability. Since 2010, we've invested over $29 million on the island in rebuilding transmission lines and undergrounding and/or replacing distribution lines.

Transmission upgrades

We completed four transmission system upgrade projects in the past five years:

Agate Pass tower replacement
Port Madison Tap 6.5-mile upgrade
Foss Corner-Port Madison 9.4-mile upgrade
Port Madison substation upgrades

Distribution upgrades

We've completed over two dozen distribution system upgrade projects to improve reliability, including:

Installing tree wire
Replacing aging poles and wires
Undergrounding existing and new circuits where it's feasible to do so

Electric reliability

It’s no secret electric reliability on Bainbridge Island needs to be improved. We’ve talked about this over the past few years and as recently as this summer. You’ve been vocal in asking us to find solutions that improve reliability, meet this community’s growing energy needs and align with the community’s values.

A worker in a bucket truck repairs an overhead line on Bainbridge Island.

How power gets to Bainbridge

Why do my lights go out so often?

Trees and aging infrastructure are significant contributors to reduced reliability.
The design of the existing electric transmission system leaves two-thirds of the island’s system without backup transmission.
The geography of an island poses unique challenges for electric reliability, mainly the lack of neighboring infrastructure to serve as a backup.
High winds, winter storms and tall trees all contribute to the number of outages. Trees are the most frequent cause of outages on the island.

Identifying electric needs

PSE recently completed a detailed assessment on Bainbridge Island’s electric system needs. The Needs Assessment identified known and new issues.

Read the Needs Assessment

PSE and third-party experts then developed a Solutions Report to analyze potential solutions to meet these needs. The report studied the feasibility of both traditional wires solutions and innovative non-wires solutions.

Read the Solutions Report

An image of the cover page for the Bainbridge Island Electric System Needs Assessment, a report developed by PSE.

Click to review PDF report (1.17 MB)

Needs Assessment findings

The Need Assessment identified three key findings:

Poor transmission reliability
Aging infrastructure
Growth: ferry electrification and increased demand for power

Poor transmission reliability

The Needs Assessment affirmed that the island has a transmission reliability need. The study highlighted that Bainbridge Island customers experience more frequent and longer outages than the average PSE customer, and nearly half of those outage minutes are due to issues with the transmission system. Some specific challenges to reliability include:

Trees: Bainbridge transmission lines are heavily exposed to trees, and 64 percent of outages are caused by trees.
Radial transmission lines: Nearly two-thirds of Bainbridge customers are at risk of a prolonged outage. This is because their area is served by a substation – either Winslow or Murden Cove substation – that’s fed by a single transmission line with no back-up.
- Customers served by the Winslow substation have the worst reliability on the island, and secondarily Murden Cove substation.
- Nearly 70 percent of transmission customer minutes of service interruptions were from the Winslow Tap transmission line that feeds the Winslow substation.

graph of average number of outages — Click to enlarge

Aging infrastructure

Inspections determined that portions of the Winslow Tap circa-1960 transmission line are nearing the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced. In addition, the Winslow Tap is in a heavily-vegetated corridor with difficult terrain, which makes finding and repairing outages challenging and results in longer outages.

Substation capacity need

Ferry electrification and the community’s growing energy needs are driving the need for additional substation capacity, particularly during winter peaks.

Increasing demand: The population of Bainbridge Island has increased significantly over the last few decades and electric demand has changed. Even with energy conservation, the electric demand residents place on the system has dramatically increased.
Ferry electrification: Soon Washington State Ferries will be electrified to cut carbon emissions and reduce pollution, which will require a charging system at Bainbridge Island and creates even more demand.

Solutions Report

The solutions report studied several alternatives to address the needs on Bainbridge Island, including traditional wires alternatives and non-wires alternatives. Non-wire alternatives are alternatives that are not traditional poles, wires and substations.

These are described in detail in the Solutions Report.

Read the Solutions Report here

Read the Non-Wires Alternatives appendix here

Read the Battery Storage appendix here

Our proposed solution contains elements of both wires and non-wires alternatives. Read on to learn more.

An image of the cover page for the Bainbridge Island Electric System Solutions Report developed by PSE.

PSE’s proposed solution

Our proposed plan is a unique solution crafted for Bainbridge Island. The project package combines new technologies and grid infrastructure to ensure safe, dependable power for families and businesses for years to come.

These projects are designed to:

Improve electric service reliability, reducing the frequency and duration of power outages for customers on Bainbridge Island.
Successfully meet the increasing power needs of Bainbridge Island for years to come.
Support the electrification of the Washington State Ferries.
Deploy new technologies that will help postpone building a new substation. These technologies maximize opportunities for conservation and innovation and may help reduce our carbon footprint.

PSE will continue to invest in projects to improve reliability on the distribution system that serves neighborhoods.

New transmission line and rebuild the aging Winslow Tap to improve reliability

New 3.3 MW battery energy storage system to add additional capacity

Targeted conservation and demand response tools to reduce demand

existing infrastructure map — Click to enlarge

Wires solutions

We're investing in transmission infrastructure that will make Bainbridge Island's electric grid more resilient and reduce the impact of any single outage by focusing on redundancy.

New transmission line

We'll add the "missing link" transmission line between the Winslow and Murden Cove substations to create a transmission "loop." This means each substation will be connected to two transmission lines. If one line goes out, the other line will still feed the substation and provide power to customers.

Rebuild the aging Winslow Tap

We'll also replace aging infrastructure and improve the utility corridor on Winslow Tap, a critical transmission line that serves the south end of the island.

A map of the southern portion of Bainbridge Island. In the event of a tree fall on the transmission line connecting Port Madison Substation with Winslow Substation, the new transmission line connecting Murden Cove Substation to Winslow Substation would ensure the southern third of the island still has electricity.

Non-wires solutions

PSE is committed to partnering with our customers for a better energy future. Batteries and distributed technologies are an important part of that equation for our Bainbridge Island customers.

To address the growth that’s straining the island’s distribution system and balance the values of the community to limit infrastructure, PSE is proposing to postpone a new substation and instead:

Install a utility-scale battery energy storage system at the Murden Cove substation. The 3.3 MW battery will add capacity to the system by supplying electricity during winter peak periods when demand is high.
Implement innovative conservation and demand response programs that help lower customer demand in various ways. This may include partnerships with customers to lower their energy use during periods of peak demand by using smart thermostats and other tools.
We'll work with Washington State Ferries to curtail their use during peak periods.

If all of the non-wire solutions are successfully implemented, we’ll postpone the need for a new substation for at least 10 years.

Anticipated project schedule

How you can help

Over the next year, we'll work with the community on these projects. We need your help:

Participate in our transmission line "loop" routing process: we'll engage the community in early 2020 to help us with this.

Reduce your energy needs by participating in energy efficiency and demand response programs: we anticipate these programs will be deployed next year.

Stay engaged and provide input on these projects.

Sign up for our e-newsletter to receive notifications on these opportunities!

Attendees at an open house view renewable energy materials displayed by PSE staff.

Community involvement timeline

An infographic displays the anticipated schedule of upcoming community involvement opportunities. A community meeting was held in October 2019. This will be followed by information sessions in late 2019 to early 2020. After this, the transmission line routing process will take place in early 2020. Then, in 2020 PSE will begin deploying conservation programs. Through all of these steps, PSE will conduct ongoing outreach through 2020 and beyond.

October 17 Public meeting: The project package was launched at a public meeting held at the Bainbridge High School Commons on Oct. 17. We heard questions and initial reactions to the project from attendees and will continue to engage the community as we move forward.
Information sessions: We’ll host informational sessions to discuss individual project components in more detail. Want to help shape this conversation? Be sure to leave your project-specific questions and comments below!
Early 2020 transmission line routing process: In early 2020 we’ll engage the community in a conversation on routing the new transmission line “loop.” Sign up for our e-newsletter to receive notifications on our process!
2020 conservation programs: Begin deploying conservation programs in 2020.
Ongoing outreach: There may be opportunities for input on the Winslow Tap rebuild and the Murden Cove battery facility. We’ll keep the community informed as these projects progress — stay tuned for more information in 2020.

We want to hear from you!

We welcome your comments and questions—contact us via email or voicemail.

Interested in our upcoming information sessions? Help shape the discussion at these sessions by leaving a brief question or comment below. PSE will not respond to each question individually but will use this feedback to develop the content of future information sessions.

Get involved

Learn more at pse.com/bainbridge
Subscribe to email updates at psebainbridge.com/connect-with-us
Email us at info@psebainbridge.com
Leave a message at 1-888-878-8632
Find us on facebook.com/pseonbainbridgeisland

Info sessions input

Help us frame our discussion…what are you interested in hearing about at upcoming information sessions?

Possible information session category: power lines & related infrastructure

Example: "Why does PSE trim trees?"

Possible information session category: battery and energy efficiency

Example: "Why is the battery being placed in Murden Cove substation?"

Investing in reliability and grid modernization