It’s 7am on a cool, sunny winter day in the countryside of Koniko County, and the crews are already hard at work.
Bright yellow Vermeer trenchers gleamed in the morning sun, steadily cutting through the red clay along the Alabama power line outside of Evergreen. Four colored 1¼-inch thick polyethylene pipes, made of strong blue, black, green, and orange polyethylene thermoplastic, and a strip of orange warning tape were neatly laid down as they moved across the soft ground. The tubes flow smoothly from four large drums – one for each color. Each spool can hold up to 5,000 feet or nearly a mile of pipeline.
Moments later, the excavator followed the trencher, covering the pipe with earth and moving the bucket back and forth. A team of experts, comprised of specialized contractors and Alabama power executives, oversees the process, ensuring quality control and safety.
A few minutes later, another team followed in a specially equipped pickup truck. A crew member walks across a backfilled trench, carefully spreading local grass seeds. It was followed by a pickup truck equipped with a blower that sprayed straw onto the seeds. The straw holds the seeds in place until they germinate, restoring the right-of-way to its original pre-construction state.
About 10 miles to the west, on the outskirts of the ranch, another crew is working under the same power line, but with a completely different task. Here the pipe was to pass through a 30-acre farm pond about 40 feet deep. This is about 35 feet deeper than the trench dug and filled in near Evergreen.
At this point, the team deployed a directional rig that looked like something out of a steampunk movie. The drill has a shelf on which there is a heavy-duty steel “chuck” that holds the section of the drill pipe. The machine methodically presses the rotating rods into the soil one by one, creating a 1,200-foot tunnel through which the pipe will run. Once the tunnel is dug, the rod is removed and the pipeline is pulled across the pond so that it can connect with the miles of pipeline already under the power lines behind the rig. on the horizon.
Five miles to the west, at the edge of a cornfield, the Third Crew used a special plow attached to the back of a bulldozer to lay additional pipes along the same power line. Here it’s a faster process, with soft, tilled ground and level ground making it easier to get ahead. The plow moved quickly, opening the narrow ditch and laying the pipe, and the crews quickly filled up the heavy equipment.
This is part of Alabama Power’s ambitious project to lay underground fiber optic technology along the company’s transmission lines – a project that promises many benefits not only for the power company’s customers, but also for the communities where the fiber is installed.
“It’s a communications backbone for everyone,” said David Skoglund, who oversees a project in southern Alabama that involves laying cables west of Evergreen through Monroeville to Jackson. There, the project turns south and will eventually connect with Alabama Power’s Barry plant in Mobile County. The program starts in September 2021 with a total run of approximately 120 miles.
Once the pipelines are in place and securely buried, crews run real fiber optic cable through one of the four pipelines. Technically, the cable is “blown” through the pipe with compressed air and a small parachute attached to the front of the line. In good weather, crews can lay 5 miles of cable.
The remaining three conduits will remain free for now, but cables can be quickly added if additional fiber capacity is required. Installing channels now is the most efficient and cost-effective way to prepare for the future when you need to exchange large amounts of data faster.
State leaders are increasingly focusing on expanding broadband across the state, especially in rural communities. Gov. Kay Ivey called a special session of the Alabama legislature this week where lawmakers are expected to use a portion of federal pandemic funds to expand broadband.
Alabama Power’s fiber optic network will benefit the company and community from the Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
The current expansion and replacement of Alabama Power’s fiber optic network began in the 1980s and improves network reliability and resiliency in many ways. This technology brings state-of-the-art communication capabilities to the network, allowing substations to communicate with each other. This feature allows companies to activate advanced protection plans that reduce the number of customers affected by outages and the duration of outages. These same cables provide a reliable and secure communications backbone for Alabama power facilities such as offices, control centers and power plants throughout the service area.
High-bandwidth fiber capabilities enhance the security of remote sites using technologies such as high-definition video. It also allows companies to expand maintenance programs for substation equipment based on condition—another plus for system reliability and resiliency.
Through the partnership, this upgraded fiber infrastructure can serve as an advanced telecommunications backbone for communities, providing the fiber bandwidth required for other services, such as high-speed Internet access, in areas of the state where fiber is not available.
In a growing number of communities, Alabama Power is working with local suppliers and rural power cooperatives to help implement high-speed broadband and Internet services that are critical to business and economic development, education, public safety and health, and power quality. . life.
“We are excited about the opportunities this fiber network can provide to rural residents as well as more urban residents,” said George Stegal, Alabama Power Connectivity Group Manager.
In fact, about an hour from Interstate 65, in downtown Montgomery, another crew is laying fiber as part of a high-speed loop being built around the capital. As with most rural communities, the fiber optic loop will provide Alabama Power operations with the infrastructure for high-speed communications and data analytics, as well as possible future broadband connectivity in the region.
In an urban community like Montgomery, installing fiber optics comes with other challenges. For example, fiber in some places has to be routed along narrower rights-of-way and high-traffic roads. There are more streets and railroads to cross. In addition, great care must be taken when installing near other underground infrastructure, from sewer, water and gas lines to existing underground power lines, telephone and cable lines. Elsewhere, the terrain poses additional challenges: in parts of western and eastern Alabama, for example, deep ravines and steep hills mean drilled tunnels up to 100 feet deep.
However, installations across the state are steadily moving forward, making Alabama’s promise of a faster, more resilient communications network a reality.
“I’m excited to be a part of this project and help provide high-speed connectivity to these communities,” Skoglund said as he watched the pipeline through empty corn fields west of Evergreen. The work here is calculated so as not to interfere with the autumn harvest or spring planting.
“This is important for these small towns and the people who live here,” Skoglund added. “This is important for the country. I’m happy to play a small role in making this happen.”