System Improvements

Electric transmission and electric substation project that will improve and provide reliable electricity to members in and near northwest Elbert County.

Visit the project website.

CORE will rebuild 9 miles of existing 44-kilovolt transmission line to 115 kilovolts to improve reliability and capacity. A public open house meeting will be scheduled.

CORE will rebuild the existing Shawnee Substation from 44 kilovolts to 115 kilovolts to improve capacity and reliability. The project open house occurred in July 2023, and right-of-way and permitting acquisition activities are under way.

Construction is expected to start in late 2024 or early 2025 for the redesign and rebuild of the 115-kilovolt transmission line between our Waterton and Roxborough substations.

Construction on a new 115-kilovolt double circuit transmission line started in September 2023 and is expected to be completed in September 2024.

CORE uses the Wildfire Risk Map to make important decisions and prioritize where and how to upgrade facilities, underground lines, and pilot fire mitigation technologies and equipment. The current map is based on the Colorado State Forest Service (CSFS) Wildfire Risk Assessment Portal that was published in 2017, but CSFS published their updated Wildfire Risk Assessment (WRA) in 2023 that contains updated fuels modeling and fire simulation data provided by Technosylva. CORE is using the data from the update to build a new internal risk map that combines Fire Intensity and Values at Risk to identify where catastrophic fires have the potential to occur and focus our mitigation efforts in these areas.

Based on the Conditional Risk Level calculated in the updated Wildfire Risk Map, CORE will be targeting areas for strategic undergrounding. If a line that is scheduled to be rebuilt or a brand new construction is within a Level 4 or 5 risk area, it is automatically designated to be built underground if possible. In certain cases it may not be possible to construct the new line underground due to line configuration or site conditions. In these instances the new line is built to CORE’s current standards of hardening and resilience.

CORE is continually revising and updating its construction standards to incorporate the latest advances and best practices in powerline construction. This helps to ensure that CORE’s facilities are built to withstand typical environmental conditions of the landscape in which we operate and limit the chances for our equipment to fail and cause an ignition. The measures include building with taller, thicker poles to withstand high winds and reduce tree-caused outages, using 10-foot crossarms to improve conductor spacing, and installing wildlife protection on energized parts to reduce contact from birds and animals.

Because mitigating wildfire risk while maintaining reliability requires a difficult balancing act, CORE continues to invest in grid modernization projects. We have implemented a plan to replace hydraulic oil devices with electronic protection devices that is nearly complete. CORE is also exploring the benefits of increased sectionalizing with more sensitive fuses. This approach is intended to trip very quickly on potentially dangerous fault conditions, but limit outages to a smaller area.

The replacement of old transformers with new, well-built transformers helps meet growing member demand.

Reconfiguration of our system improves reliability for members and helps us more quickly restore power.

Continual maintenance of regulators is crucial to the stability, reliability and quality of the electric service we provide.

Replacement of older cables and conductors mitigates fire risk and increases the reliability of our system.

Our growing network of Level 2 and 3 electric vehicle chargers supports the increasing number of CORE members who own EVs. All chargers are open to the general public, but CORE members are entitled to a discounted rate upon enrollment in CORE’s discounted driver group. Visit our COREV Community Charge page for more information.