GRDA Power for Progress, Meeting the mission, mile by mile

GRDA Power for Progress …Meeting the mission, mile by mile

Summer time means mowing time for most of us across Oklahoma, and it’s certainly no different for the Grand River Dam Authority. However, one thing that is different is the amount of ground to cover. With other 1,200 miles of rights-of-way (ROW) located beneath its high voltage transmission lines in Northeast Oklahoma, GRDA has a lot of vegetation management responsibilities, especially this time of year. Those miles of ROW have to be mowed, cleared and maintained on a regular basis to make sure that no power outages are caused by falling tree limbs or out of control vegetation.

The task of doing all that work falls to the GRDA Vegetation Management Department. In a typical season, it will clear 500 miles of ROW, beginning as soon as the weather permits and staying after it throughout the summer growing season. Pairing off in two-man specialized crews, the department tackles the work with tractors, spray rigs and other heavy equipment geared towards mowing and trimming.

Each crew member is certified and licensed by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture as “Pesticide Applicators” and they put that certification to the test battling the war on weeds beneath high voltage power lines. The work is critical to GRDA’s overall mission because a well-maintained ROW, and well-maintained substation sites not only cut down on the possibility of outages due to brush and limbs but it also means allow for greater accessibility for GRDA’s power line maintenance crews. All the work done by the department is really guided by regulations set forth by agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

Getting the job done requires a lot of knowledge, a steady hand and a good internal compass. After all, some of the ROW paths wind around, up and down hills and hollows and through some rugged country in parts of Northeast Oklahoma. Power lines do not always follow the simplest of paths, but rather go where the power is needed and that means often stretching across miles of this difficult terrain.

Also, keeping landowners informed is a top priority for the department. Several years ago, the department started its own internal PR program of sorts, that calls for a lead man to meet with the landowners long before the cutting crew arrives, in order to explain the process and the time and path the crew will need to take.

Like the work performed by other departments, the role of the Vegetation Management Department is a critical part of the GRDA mission to “provide low-cost, reliable electric power and related services to our customers.”

Headquartered in Vinita, GRDA is Oklahoma’s state-owned electric utility; fully funded by revenues from electric and water sales instead of taxes. Directly or indirectly, GRDA’s low-cost, reliable; electricity serves nearly 500,000 homes in Oklahoma and stretches into 75 of 77 counties in the state. At no cost to Oklahoma taxpayers, GRDA also manages 70,000 surface acres of lakes in the state, including Grand Lake, Lake Hudson and the W.R. Holway Reservoir. Today, GRDA’s 500 employees continue to produce the same “power for progress” that has benefited the state for 75 years.

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