by Sue Pascoe
Editor
The first of two 65-ft. pole-top distributing (PTD) stations has been installed at the corner of Temescal Canyon Road and Sunset Boulevard. A second station will be placed at Sunset and the western end of Marquez Avenue.
They are a temporary solution until a second substation can be built to serve Pacific Palisades.
Photo: Sawyer Pascoe
Last January at a Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting, Bill Herriott and Jack Waizenegger of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power addressed the town’s frequent power outages.
Three circuits in the Palisades have been overloaded since 2009. Last year, they were overloaded at 118 percent, 123 percent and 114 percent, respectively. The heat generated from being overloaded can cause shutdowns and reliability issues.
Waizenegger said, “This is a good band-aid,” but he noted two issues with a pole-top station as opposed to a substation. The PTD is fused and has no backup transformer; plus it has overhead exposure and minimal remote monitoring.
Although Waizenegger acknowledged that alternate energy sources and low-energy appliances can help, this area’s power station (built in 1935 at the corner of Sunset and Via de la Paz and upgraded numerous times) has reached its capacity.
The DWP reps also warned that additional poles may be installed, perhaps as soon as this year. Once a substation is installed, the poles can be removed.
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