The City of Powell awarded a $178,684 contract to Trachte Building Systems last month for a new control house at the Vining electrical substation, which is undergoing renovations.

The project was budgeted at $210,000.

The city received six bids for the control house. Trachte, of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, wasn’t the lowest bidder, but was the only company to submit a complete proposal that met the city’s specifications and came within budget.  

Despite all the incomplete bids, Mayor John Wetzel commented on how nice it was to see so many submitted. 

“It’s good to see there’s some competition out there for some things,” Wetzel said Jan. 18. 

Electrical Connections, Inc., out of Rock Springs, also bid and received a 5% Wyoming contractor discount, but their bid of $225,283 still came in $4,000 over budget with the discount. Their bid submission also didn’t include a crane for offloading, as required by the city’s specifications. 

The control house provides all weather protection and security for the control equipment for the substation.

In the summer of 2019, a fire at the Vining Substation shut down power to much of Powell, and it took several hours before any power was restored. The city made further repairs to stabilize the 30-year-old substation, but the incident drew attention to the need to renovate the aging substation.

In October, the city awarded SPX Transformer Solutions, Inc., a $1 million contract for two megavolt ampere transformers.  

The entire expansion and upgrade project at the substation will cost $2.9 million. The State Loan and Investment Board provided Powell with a $1.5 million loan for the project last June. 

The city plans to begin construction on the substation renovation as early as this spring.