Rising demands for power and responding to climate-related events are driving profound changes in and around the Puget Sound region, and infrastructure stewards are looking at ways to handle those changes—from project delivery methods to potential interagency partnerships.

With such trends as artificial intelligence and electric vehicle use, energy demand is booming, and “we are on the cusp of massive change,” said Scott Simms, CEO and executive director of the Public Power Council, which represents 80 public utilities across Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana and Nevada.

In the Northwest, power use will increase from 22 GW a year to as much as 44 GW by 2046, he told attendees of Infraday Northwest, held in Seattle on August 19. However, “most of the system was built before we were born,” added Simms. “In the old days, you could build a line in the middle of nowhere.” Now, he explains, building transmission lines is more difficult due to dense urban environments.

While hydropower is the region’s biggest power resource, the massive federal government cuts “hit us hard,” Simms said. Fired employees “were running the dams, maintaining them.”  Proposed tariffs also will raise costs to import components for renewable energy projects from various countries. “More investor partnerships” may be in the making “due to lack of federal support,” he said.

Compounding the challenges of meeting energy demand in Washington state are its deadlines for shifting to clean energy, noted Aaron Cahen, energy policy advisor for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. Passed in 2019, the Clean Energy Transformation Act has a goal of 100% carbon neutrality by 2045 and also to identify communities that have been negatively impacted by energy projects historically.

Resource Adequacy

Under the recently formed Western Resource Adequacy Program, agencies such as Seattle City Light are adopting a regional focus, said Jeff Winmill, the utility’s strategic counsel for regulatory affairs. Through cooperative agreements, “we could call on our [neighboring utilities] if more power is needed, he said. 

He added that there are no Regional Transmission Organizations in the Seattle region, which are non-profits that manage the high-voltage transmission grid across a multi-state region. “We may need to rethink that,” he said.

Amy Altchuler, Seattle City Light senior program manager, noted that the utility will begin rolling out “time-of-use rates” this fall for residences, to be followed by businesses, in hopes that more energy use will shift to off-peak hours.

Agencies are also looking at how to better prepare for climate-related shock events. Ann Grodnik-Nagle, strategic advisor for Seattle Public Utilities, said that one effort is to identify communities that have proven their grass-roots ability to mobilize after an event rather than waiting for government aid. After a 2022 flood, the neighborhood of South Park mobilized even before the city of Seattle did, she noted. 

In that vein, Seattle officials developed a hazard and vulnerability analysis document, said Curry Mayer, director of the Office of Emergency Management. It assesses what communities will be impacted, also covering their demographics, assets and historical responses if any of 18 types of events occur. 

One lesson learned from previous natural disasters is being prepared for what happens weeks later, such as drains breaking down, said Clayton Putnam, a public works engineer for the city of Shoreline that is supplementing force water mains with flexible couplers and high-density polyethylene pipes.

Mayer envisioned having caches of emergency supplies such as generators available throughout the city, especially for more isolated residents, and John Schelling, senior manager of emergency preparedness and resilience for the King County Dept. of Natural Resources and Parks, said the city’s west side is “not as prepared” for wildfire risk as the east side. 

Andrea Trepedean, chief safety officer for Sound Transit, envisioned a unified command center that could form quickly after an emergency event. Grodnik-Nagle added that “I would like to upsize our water infrastructure—it was designed for drizzles, not downpours.”

Projects such as more permeable pavement, identified heat islands and expanded workforce development are underway through RainCity Partnerships, a community-based public-private partnership among various stakeholders, she added.

Medical Mission

Another alternative delivery model will be employed for the $1.74-billion expansion and upgrade of Seattle's Harborview Medical Center, the only Level 1 trauma center in the region, serving four states, said Anthony Wright, director of Harborview Construction and Infrastructure for King County. Voters approved the amount in a phased bond measure passed in 2020.

A joint venture of Mortenson and Perkins & Will has the progressive design-build contract to build a new in-patient tower, supporting infrastructure and upgrade of existing facilities, he said. Goals include increasing operating rooms from 25 to 40-plus in number, beds from 540 to ultimately 740, patient room sizes from 514 sq ft to 1,000 sq ft, and adding dedicated elevators to transport patients directly from the helipad to emergency facilities.

City building codes require the hospital to go all-electric, while the 14-MW use will eventually be 34 MW. “We currently use a steam plant,” Wright noted. “Eighty-year-old pipes run up an unstable slope under Interstate 5.” The project includes a hospital energy district, including a central plant providing thermal energy.

A request for Letters of Interest will be released soon for subcontractors, he noted, with the program aiming to reach a 15% goal for small and disadvantaged businesses. Construction on the tower is expected to begin in 2027 or 2028.