Bonneville Power Administration had the Celilo Converter Station rebuilt. As part of that process, seven 430-ton transformers were being shipped from Sweden to The Dalles, Oregon. Once they arrive in The Dalles, they had to be transported across town from their staging area at the Port of The Dalles’ new Columbia Gorge Industrial Center, despite a number of obstacles in their way.
Scan Global Logistics in Sweden, a Project Freight Net – PFN member, had been contracted for this move which involved some complex challenges. Coming from the transformer factory in Sweden the transformers are being transported by specialized rail car which had been loaded to its maximum capacity. Through the port of Norrköping, Sweden they then were shipped by self-geared multipurpose vessel to Oregon and from there up the river towards the converter station.
The Celilo converter, located near the Columbia River, is the northern station of the Pacific DC Intertie, a 1,360-kilometer HVDC link that connects to the Sylmar converter station in Los Angeles. It transmits electricity from the Pacific Northwest to as many as three million households in the greater Los Angeles area.
During winter, the north consumes significant quantities of power for heating while the south requires less, but in summer demand is reversed with more power needed in the south for cooling. The Pacific Intertie HVDC link enables the balance of supply with demand between these regions.
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