The West of Devers Upgrade Project serves as a critical component in SCE’s effort to meet California’s renewable power goals.

For this EPC project, Barnard removed and replaced 184 circuit miles of existing 220kV transmission lines with new double-circuit 220kV transmission lines, though this was anything but a typical linear utility project. Over a three-year construction period, Barnard worked through 16 separate outages coordinated with the California Independent System Operator. The outage sequence required three of four existing circuits in the right-of-way to remain energized at all times so SCE could maintain service to its customers.

The project concluded under budget and ahead of schedule, despite the challenging outage sequence and the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, SCE energized the line more than five months ahead of schedule, an achievement the team attributes to partnering and the “project-first” mentality it promoted. The upgrade has tripled electricity transmission capacity from 1,600 MW to 4,800 MW and enables SCE to bring additional renewable and battery energy storage resources to the grid.