When a California utility needed a substation built in the mountains as part of a renewable energy project, Beta provided the solution. The massive substation was located on an 80-acre site, 40 acres of which was inside the fence. The customer was new to working with a 500kV project, so we were able to help them through the process of developing their standards.

Because of the mountainous terrain, the site required extensive grading. Our team removed, crushed and compacted 1.2 million cubic yards of soil and rock to create the site pad, completing a total of 110 blasting operations. The project involved more than 40 subcontractors and employed approximately 150 people at the peak of construction. This created a traffic flow challenge along the remote access road, so Beta provided traffic control at “choke points” on the road to the site. The customer also wanted to keep the substation from being an eyesore for local residents, so our team painted the control building with a mountain camo design to help it blend with the surroundings.

When the customer requested a faster turnaround than the original 22 months, we transitioned to seven-day shifts, which accelerated the project by six months. Thanks to the success of this project, we built a long-lasting relationship with this customer and have since worked together on several other projects.