Puget Sound Energy Lake Hills-Phantom Lake Improvements

November Wind Storm

The windstorm caused extensive damage to our system late afternoon yesterday and into last night. As of 5:20 a.m., we have 416,488 customers out of power.

Our focus today is on critical infrastructure and public safety, as PSE has been fielding many 911 calls for safety/emergency needs. With daylight approaching, crews will continue assessing more of the overall damage to the region and provide restoration updates as information becomes available.

We anticipate a multiple day outage and encourage customers with critical needs to make alternate plans as we work to assess the situation and restore power.

Puget Sound Energy transmission line project

Lake Hills-Phantom Lake 115 kV transmission line

Project completed

The new Lake Hills-Phantom Lake 115 kV transmission line was energized in 2021 and is now serving customers in Bellevue. We thank the Bellevue community for its patience during line construction.

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For information about the project and our plans for replanting, review our Planning and Planting for the Future brochure.

Planning and planting for the future (PDF)

Map of Lake Hills-Phantom Lake 115 kV transmission line

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Project schedule

2020/2021
Winter 2020	Vegetation removal
Spring - Summer 2020	Pole and wire installation
Spring - Fall 2021	Landscaping and site restoration

Project overview

The electric system previously serving the Lake Hills neighborhood of Bellevue had limited reliability, increasing the possibility of outages for customers. PSE's Lake Hills and Phantom Lake substations were served radially, which means they were each served by one transmission line.

If the one transmission line serving a substation went out, the substation and the customers served by that substation lost power.

To help solve these problems, PSE built a new transmission line between the Lake Hills and Phantom Lake substations. The transmission line travels along NE 8th St and 148th Ave SE, ending at SE 16th St.

The new transmission line creates a "loop", which means the Lake Hills substation is connected to two transmission lines. If one line goes out, the other line will still feed the substation and provide power to customers. This project increases overall system reliability and allows for better use of existing facilities for customers.