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J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8
Two Electric Co-ops Deliver Fiber
For electric co-ops, the stakes are high: Building broadband is an expensive, risky move
into unfamiliar territory, but failing to build broadband can mean losing customer bases
and stranding their electric assets.
A CoBank Report
O
rcas Power & Light Cooperative
(OPALCO) is a member-owned,
nonprofit cooperative utility that has
provided energy services to San Juan County
in far northwest Washington state since 1937.
Delivered to 20 islands in the archipelago by
way of submarine cables, the majority of its
power is hydroelectric energy generated by the
Bonneville Power Administration.
Delivering power and broadband in
this topography and environment creates
a unique set of challenges. Together with
its wholly owned subsidiary, Rock Island
Communications, the cooperative has met these
challenges with some very creative solutions to
bring smart-grid technology and broadband
services to its members. John Donner from
CoBank's Electric Distribution team met with
Foster Hildreth, the chief executive officer of
OPALCO, to discuss how the co-op has used a
unique combination of partnerships, member
contributions and varying technologies to meet
the critical needs of its members.
JOHN DONNER: What was the initial driver
behind your project?
FOSTER HILDRETH: San Juan County was
a severely underserved community for
modern communications, with sole reliance
on a national carrier that made little to no
ongoing investment in its infrastructure.
As with many co-ops, the very initial driver
was a need to better communicate with
key grid infrastructure (substations and
submarine terminals).
Starting in 2000, OPALCO began
sharing surplus fiber with larger institutions
(public safety, government, schools, libraries)
in the county to meet their demand for
connectivity. However, a complete failure
of an undersea fiber cable belonging to the
national carrier disconnected the county for
10 days in November 2013. e immediate
impact on emergency management systems,
the economy and normal daily life initiated
our current course of action.
JD: What was the viewpoint of your board and
membership before you started, and has it
changed over time?
FH: Yes, it did change over time. We do
really see our world as the time before
the cable broke versus the time after
it. It was a defining moment in the
community that brought home the need
On a Chain of Islands in Washington,
An Unlikely Recipe for Broadband Expansion
ese two case studies are excerpted from "Making the Move Into Broadband," published by CoBank Knowledge Exchange in
September 2017. e full report is available on request from CoBank at KEDRESEARCH@CoBank.com.