Population growth sparks proposed energy project

Significant residential and commercial growth is driving a proposal to build new energy infrastructure in the east Lake Coeur d’Alene area.

“We just haven't had enough capacity to keep up with that load growth and demand there,” Josh DiLuciano, Avista's vice president of energy delivery, told the Coeur d’Alene Press on Wednesday.

Avista Utilities, which serves 419,000 electric and 381,000 gas customers across its 26,000-square-mile area, is proposing to build a 13-mile transmission line between a rebuilt substation on South Highway 97, called O’Gara, and a new substation on South Elk Road, called the Carlin Bay Substation.

The overall project, called East Coeur d'Alene Lake System Reinforcement, is expected to serve 1,500 to 3,000 more customers. The area's two existing substations, the original O’Gara and Blue Creek, currently serve nearly 3,000 customers but have recently had “operational concerns.”

With an estimated cost of $45.5 million, DiLuciano says construction of the transmission line and Carlin Bay Substation could begin as early as 2027 and end sometime in 2029. Meanwhile, rebuilding of the O’Gara Substation is expected sometime between 2028 and 2029.

Road closures are anticipated during project construction.

“Customers would have some short outage impacts as we switch over to the new feeds that have been developed,” DiLuciano said.

This part of Lake Coeur d’Alene itself is no stranger to commercial and residential development.

The Preserve at Gotham Bay, built in 2005, created over 50 custom homes on a 160-acre parcel. 

In the 1980s, plans were put forth to build the Carlin Bay community, and many more houses have been built there since then.

Gozzer Ranch, built in 2007, transformed John W. Gozzer's historic 1917 homestead into a 700-acre resort with 267 homesites for luxury estates and an 18-hole private championship course. 

“Much of the new and forecasted load is concentrated at the far reaches for each distribution feeder,” Avista said. “Additionally, several large developments, similar to the Gozzer Ranch development, have either been proposed or are under development.”

As to how much more infrastructural investment, DiLuciano said Avista has essentially doubled its annual financial commitments to transmission lines and substation work across Idaho and Washington.  

This amounts to about $100 million in annual investments, according to DiLuciano.

“Kootenai County continues to be one of the largest growing areas in the country and in our service area,” DiLuciano said. “We’ll continue to see a need for transmission and substation investment in the Kootenai County and greater Spokane area.”

So far, the East Coeur d'Alene Lake System Reinforcement project has received two public comments.

“I have great concerns about the effects this project may have on landowners,” commenter Bradley Robinson told the Public Utilities Commission via online submission. “Specifically, I’m concerned about the loss of property by way of eminent domain, property devaluation due to close proximity to this proposed line and potential damages to livelihoods from the aforementioned issues.”

Although construction will take place mostly on private land, it will minimally cross some federal and public lands. 

“Additionally, I’m concerned about what this may do to ratepayers’ bills, especially given the already high energy and other costs people are facing,” Robinson wrote. “These matters, coupled with the permanent damages this project will have on public lands, leads me to oppose this project and I encourage others to do likewise.”

The timeline to comment on the project has been extended to Nov. 17.

Comments must be filed through the Idaho Utility Commission’s website or by email unless computer access is unavailable. To submit comments online, visit puc.idaho.gov and choose the “Case Comment Form” link in the upper left corner of the homepage. Include case number AVU-E-26-10 when submitting comments.