Think about electric service reliability and what comes to mind – flipping a switch and a light comes on? TECO team members working safely on our system by the side of the road?
What you won’t see every day: a helicopter, more than a hundred feet in the air, pulling a rope to connect transmission towers over busy roadways like Interstate 275 in Tampa. The rope, in turn, will enable crews to guide 230-kilovolt cable into position to bring more power to the community in the largest such effort in Tampa Electric’s history.
This feat of coordination, which will take place over the next couple months, is part of our work on the Davis Substation to Chapman Substation line. The helicopter will hover over well-traveled roads including Fletcher and Fowler avenues and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, in addition to I-275. Similar work will happen along the Big Bend to Aspen Substation route. When the entire project is finished – one more aspect of the overall expansion at our Polk Power Station – it will give us new power generated with environmental responsibility for more than 100,000 homes.
And safety and efficiency are key pieces of the puzzle when it comes to putting it all together, said Chuck Rogers, line supervisor with Transmission Operations.
“Usually, for something like this, we’d use a bucket truck, but that involves a lot of labor,” Rogers said. “With a helicopter, getting the rope through each pole takes about 20 minutes – shortening the entire effort by about a week.”
He added, “Efficiency like this is better for our customers, since it saves money. It’s better for our people, because it lets us work in a safer way. And it’s better for the community because we can get this big job done without slowing vehicle traffic.”
Rogers emphasized that motorists and people near the area where the work will take place should not be alarmed to see a helicopter hovering along our new transmission route over the next two months.
“The helicopter work is a small part of this overall project, but for some members of the public, it may be the most visible aspect of it,” Rogers said. “Safety is our top priority at TECO, and we work with great contractors who share our dedication to it. This is a terrific thing for the community and the team working on it takes a lot of pride in getting it done.”
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