Transmission upgrades, Priest Rapids repairs on 2026 Grant County PUD project list

EPHRATA — Repairs to Priest Rapids Dam and rebuilding a transmission line between Ancient Lakes and Frenchman Hills are among the Grant County PUD projects scheduled to begin in 2026. Tarrah Bicondova, the PUD’s budget and reporting manager, said the utility is projected to spend $322 million on capital projects in 2026, compared to an estimated $225.6 million in 2025.

“The increase is really driven by major infrastructure improvements,” she said.

Scheduled projects include the continuing work on upgrading electrical transmission to the Quincy area, upgrades at Priest Rapids Dam, the PUD’s new Ephrata maintenance shop, known as a service center, and a rebuilt electrical line between Royal City and Quincy. Three projects on the list eventually will be paid for by the customers, but they had to be included as expenses, Bicondova said. Christine Pratt, PUD public information officer, said most are multiyear projects, and the projected cost is for 2026 only.

The expansion of electrical lines into the Quincy area is the largest expense at a projected $97.3 million. That includes 10 different projects, not only new power lines — including a controversial line between Wanapum Dam and Quincy — but also upgraded substations.

The new service center is projected to cost about $86.9 million in 2026 and is the first phase of a three-phase project. Nick Bare, PUD facilities supervisor, said the new facility will provide more space for PUD employees.

“It’s going to have more space for our engineering department, space to accommodate our current and future lineman crews, space for (the) fleet department that maintains all of our equipment, from small vehicles or passenger vehicles, all the way up to our mobile substation,” Bare said.

The new service center is located next to the site of the new Grant County Jail and is scheduled for completion by 2027.

Two major projects are planned for Priest Rapids Dam. One is the continuation of a long-term project to refurbish the turbine-generator units, which has been ongoing for about a decade. Crews are working on the seventh unit, with three more to go once that’s done. Projected cost for 2026 is $44.5 million.

Construction crews will be working to reinforce Priest Rapids, using a method already used at Wanapum Dam. Wanapum Dam developed a crack in 2014, which required reinforcing the entire spillway; a leak discovered at Priest Rapids was traced to the same problem.

“There’s a design flaw,” said Jason Michaelbook, PUD mechanical engineering manager for power production. “That led to the crack at Wanapum, and we have the same design flaw at Priest Rapids.”

The solution involves adding steel cables to each individual section of the structure.

“Basically, we’re taking these steel cables, we’re drilling through the piers of the spillway and attaching (the cables) to bedrock, and then we fill everything we concrete,” Michaelbook said. “Then we put these anchors under tension to kind of staple the spillways to bedrock.”

That’s projected to cost $31.4 million.

The existing transmission line between the Ancient Lakes and Frenchman Hills substations is nearly at capacity, Bicondova said. Rebuilding the 24.83 miles of line is projected to cost about $17.6 million.

The PUD is also working with customers on three solar projects. The total of all three is projected to cost about $20.2 million. The customers who requested the projects pay back those costs.

Major Grant County PUD 2026 capital projects

Quincy transmission expansion $97.3 million

New Ephrata service center $86.9 million

Priest Rapids turbine-generator upgrades $44.5 million

Priest Rapids spillway reinforcement $31.4 million

Ancient Lake to Frenchman Hills transmission rebuild $17.6 million