Minnkota MESSENGER Breaking the ice Line freeze experts / 4 Northwest Angle / 8 Curling a hot sport / 12 Osprey relocation / 16 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2019 / MINNKOTA.COM Minnkota January-February 2019 MESSENGER Contents Features 4 Line freeze expertise A lot of brains and brawn go into keeping current fl owing during the North’s major ice events. 8 Working on the beautiful Angle The Northwest Angle allows utility crews to traverse beautiful scenery. However, there are also some obstacles. 4 8 12 A hot ice sport Curling is growing in the Minnkota service territory, thanks to the United States’ success in the Olympics. We take a look at three local curling clubs. 16 Raise the roost Minnkota teams up with a Bemidji landowner 12 16 to provide a new, safe home for an osprey family. Departments 3 From the editor Coming next issue ... 18 Q&A with the manager Minnkota is involved in several major 19 Newsbriefs research projects on its generation and transmission systems. We meet the innovators who are taking to the open plains of North Dakota to change the way On the cover: Icicles collect on the beard of Brandon Allen, Minnkota fi eld safety we think about electricity. specialist. Minnkota Messenger is published six times a year by Minnkota Power Cooperative. Its mission is to communicate Minnkota’s perspectives and concerns to its members, elected offi cials, employees and other business audiences. For editorial inquiries, call (701) 795-4282 or email bfl [email protected]. Editor Board of Directors Subscription Inquiries Ben Fladhammer Chairman For change of address or subscription Contributing Writers Collin Jensen inquiries, contact Monica Hanson at Kaylee Cusack Vice Chairman [email protected]. Kevin Fee Russell Okeson Minnkota Power Cooperative is an equal Graphic Designer Secretary-Treasurer opportunity and aff irmative action employer. Mary Merrill Colett e Kujava Minnkota Power Cooperative is a generation and Photography Steve Arnesen Stay Connected transmission cooperative headquartered in Grand Forks, Kevin Jeff rey Sid Berg Follow us on our website for additional N.D. It supplies wholesale electricity to 11 member-owner Rick Coe Printing and Mailing information, expanded stories, video and distribution cooperatives, three in eastern North Dakota Jeff rey Folland Troy Ahonen photo galleries. Go to minnkota.com and and eight in northwestern Minnesota. Minnkota also Roger Krostue Rhonda Amundson click on the News tab. serves as operating agent for the Northern Municipal Leroy Riewer Tim Anderson Power Agency, an association of 12 municipal utilities in Donald Skjervheim the same service region. Together, the Joint System serves Les Windjue more than 150,000 customers. President & CEO Like us Follow us Mac McLennan on Facebook on Twitter 2 Minnkota Messenger / January-February 2019 From the editor or more than 50 years, Minnkota Messenger has told the stories that matt er most to our membership. Readers have learned about major energy projects, new technology initiatives and Fthe innovative ways in which our member cooperatives and associated municipals power their local communities. Perhaps more importantly, they’ve met the people who make it possible. The power plant operator who ensures energy is reliably fl owing onto the grid. The line worker who braves the elements to restore power during a storm. And the farmers, business owners and other member-consumers who help our region thrive. While our website and social media play an important (and growing) role in connecting with you, the Messenger is an opportunity to provide a diff erent experience – one that cannot be clicked or swiped away. As inboxes overfl ow and screen time increases, print is a medium that can cut through the digital clutt er and communicate in a more personal way. In recent months, the Communications staff at Minnkota has worked to reinvigorate the magazine and position it for the future. That means a fresh design, more focused content and a clearer link between the stories in each issue. So, how’s this for an icebreaker? Our fi rst issue of 2019 highlights the eff ort it takes to power the north. As we prepared to send the magazine to press, wind chills in Minnkota’s service area plunged to 60 below zero. When faced with extreme weather, we know our engineers have designed the grid to be durable and our crews have the grit to face even the harshest of conditions. The frigid temperatures are not feared – they are embraced. Outsiders might see the cold as only an encumbrance, but in many circumstances, it can bring a community together. It’s not uncommon to see neighbors help neighbors shovel driveways or passersby stopping to jumpstart a stalled vehicle. In the towns that dot our service area, we’re seeing small ice rinks fi lled with fellowship and spirit as curling has been revived as a wintertime activity alongside hockey and ice fi shing. Winter is an important time for Minnkota and its members. This is the period when the consumers at the end of the line need reliable electricity the most. Keeping the lights on and furnaces running during extreme cold weather events is not something we take lightly. There are innovative systems we use to keep the power fl owing across the tundra, but many times it takes someone in a winter coat, gloves and a hardhat to make everything work. As you page through this issue, we’d love to hear what you think and what content you’d like to read more about. Feel free to reach out to me at bfl [email protected]. We’re excited for the stories ahead! Ben Fladhammer Editor January-February 2019 / Minnkota Messenger 3 During the Christmas of 2014, line workers with Cavalier Rural Electric Cooperative (CREC) were pulled away from holiday festivities to clear the power lines after a major ice event. This lineman is using a special rolling device to remove the ice – often a grueling process. Photo courtesy of Ron Hanson. 4 Minnkota Messenger / January-February 2019 The northeast region Line freeze expertise of North Dakota is especially prone to ice storms, so sights like this are common MINNKOTA LEVERAGES ENGINEERING, for Langdon-area line crews. CREC’s Marty Tetrault says MUSCLE AND TEAMWORK TO KEEP they have even buried some lines to avoid POWER ON DURING ICE EVENTS the recurring issue. Photo courtesy of Ron Hanson. he timing is never right. plained that if there is a wind, it will create A strange freezing event blows an ellipse-like ice shape around a normally through during Christmas, or Eas- round conductor, changing its profile. T ter, or the linchpin football game of “It tends to act like an airplane wing,” Galloping Aerodynamics the season – and Mother Nature wears no Lembke said. “You get uplift forces With wind team’s jersey. because of that, with the wind going over Power “It’s the game-winning field goal and the and under the conductor. It will cause Line power goes out. It’s happened,” Minnkota it to start lifting.” Ice Transmission Superintendent Pat Helling Once the lines get lift, which may only said, recalling just one instance of the take a 5-mph perpendicular wind, they can frustration that can stem from ice or frost collecting on the power lines. In Minnkota’s corner of the world, ice buildup is a common problem that affects Transmission Line Sag the lines at least a few times every winter. Minnkota has several types of transmission lines The cooperative’s service area, comprising that are impacted by ice in di erent ways. eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota, is home to a climate that boasts 772-foot span of 230-kV transmission line at 32°F wild seasonal swings, especially around ½ inch of ice: 3.2-foot drop December and April. ¾ inch of ice: 5-foot drop “It’s that perfect mix of temperature and 1 inch of ice: 6.7-foot drop fog and rain and whatever else is going to 1¼ inch of ice: 9-foot drop happen,” Helling said. “The line could be basically freezing, and then the air is warm enough to rain. It just sticks.” When the ice thickens enough, destruc- tion swings in. The heavy load on the wires leads to excessive sagging or a much more damaging situation – galloping wires. Minnkota Civil Engineering Manager Wayne Lembke ex- January-February 2019 / Minnkota Messenger 5 begin whipping and sailing in all directions. of its worst ice event fallouts on a transmis- Galloping wires may slap together and in- sion line north of Bismarck, N.D. He was duce a fault on the line, or an arc can cause working as a contractor at the time, but was a line break and a subsequent blink outage. called to support Minnkota when a semi In severe cases, the violent motions cause caught a sagging conductor over the high- forces on the structures themselves that can way. break off post tops or crossarms. “It actually tore down the structures on “It’s intense, and there’s nothing you can both sides of the road, and then it cascaded do about it when it happens,” Helling said. both ways,” Helling said, pulling up digital “That’s the hardest part to watch – knowing photos of the mangled aftermath – three you’re pretty helpless.” miles of demolished 345-kV line. “We had to take down all of the structures that were Speed of destruction damaged and rebuild them new. I think we Helling remembered back to Good Fri- were out there about two weeks, straight day 2010, when Minnkota experienced one through, until it was done.” “ It’s intense, and there’s nothing you can do about it when it happens.