By Abby Bell
Cloverland Electric’s construction work plan encourages proactive planning for the future growth and changes the cooperative is part of and undertakes within our region and state. Spanning approximately every four years, the renewed 2024-2027 plan includes strategic projects that will improve Cloverland’s service reliability, reduce outages and prepare for future initiatives, including electric vehicle expansion and economic development.
Construction work plans are standard procedure at electric cooperatives and utilities nationwide. The plan is used as a roadmap, showing the infrastructure and maintenance goals the cooperative aims to achieve often within a four-year timespan, as incorporated within a long-range plan (up to 15 or 20 years). The plan is reviewed and adjusted annually to provide a clear path with the necessary budget and resources required to accomplish the outlined projects or flex with new criteria that our ever-changing society merits. The construction work plan also enables the cooperative to secure loan funding from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utility Services (USDA - RUS), which supports the capital improvements, expansion, and modernization of rural electric infrastructure. RUS requires an approved construction work plan from the co-op prior to securing loan funding.
With strategic financial management over the past five years, the co-op has successfully reduced debt while maintaining reliable and affordable service for its members. As a result, Cloverland’s equity ratio increased from 22.9% to a healthy 32%. This stronger ratio allows Cloverland to secure funding for large infrastructure projects through RUS and other utility lenders at lower interest rates and favorable terms.
The 2024-2027 construction work plan was developed in collaboration with Power System Engineering, an engineering firm specializing in utility solutions. With expertise in the co-op's rural five-county Eastern Upper Peninsula (EUP) service territory, Power System Engineering supported Cloverland engineers in prioritizing projects in the plan. Key factors considered include areas with frequent outages, infrastructure needs for economic development and aging infrastructure throughout the co-ops service territory. The construction work plan took about six months to complete and will be used as the roadmap for the co-op’s engineering team over the next four years.
Highlights of the 2024 - 2027 construction work plan include improvements to substations in areas such as Brimley, Dafter, DeTour, and Manistique, updates to line systems in Eckerman, Curtis, St. Ignace, and Paradise (a heavily forested area prone to frequent power outages) and several Sault Ste. Marie area enhancement projects. Each project was chosen based on the necessity for infrastructure updates and improvements to meet anticipated capacity growth.
As Cloverland looks ahead to the next four years, it’s worthwhile to reflect on the accomplishments of the previous construction work plan. In late 2023, Cloverland completed construction of the new Kincheloe substation – a long-awaited project that will deliver increased reliability in the Kincheloe area later in 2024 early 2025. Cloverland took preventative action with plans to retire two aged substations with the replacement of a higher capacity substation with the ability to support consistent, reliable service while supporting the economic development projects in the area. Although facing supply chain delays with the substation’s transformer, the engineering team eagerly anticipates launching the substation into service in early 2025 once the transformer arrives and line interconnects are established.
The Kincheloe substation project serves as a testament to the importance of using the construction work plan as a roadmap. Leveraging the skills of co-op engineers, electronic technicians, staking technicians and line crews, Cloverland successfully completed this milestone project, which will benefit members for years to come.
The 2024-2027 construction work plan showcases tangible results of Cloverland’s diligent financial stewardship. As Cloverland prepares for the future energy needs in the EUP, the co-op remains committed to investing members’ dollars into infrastructure improvements that ensure safe, reliable and affordable energy to its 34,000 member-owners.