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MOUNT DORA, Florida, July 9, 2025: Victory Powerline Services (VPS) has completed inspection and oversight on a major distribution hardening project for a Southeast electric utility, helping improve grid reliability and reduce the risk of outages.
The original design specified a stacked double-circuit overhead feeder line from a substation on 58 concrete poles, each 70 feet tall. When height restrictions created challenges, engineers revised the plan so that the customer-loaded feeder remained overhead on shorter concrete poles and the express feeder was routed underground beneath a pedestrian walkway next to a multi-lane highway.
John Wingfield, Director of Field Operations at Victory Powerline Services, explained that the VPS job site manager reviewed this revised layout and quickly identified serious cost and schedule implications.
Installing the express feeder underground would require several county and special permits and could extend construction by roughly a year, due to the need to remove more than a mile of sidewalk, manage lane closures, and mobilize heavy equipment. It would also require crane rentals at approximately $3,000 to $4,000 per day, boring machines, night work to satisfy permitting conditions, and expanded traffic control.
According to Wingfield, the underground feeder was designed with 1,000 MCM cable using three conductors in a six-inch duct at a cost of about $3 per foot, adding up to roughly $400,000 just for wire. When VPS factored in labor and other required materials, including switchgear and reclosers, the underground portion exceeded $750,000. Taken together, the changes associated with the underground approach would have increased the project budget by about $1.4 million.
VPS recommended a different strategy that kept both circuits overhead while still complying with standards and constructability limits. The team proposed a back-to-back configuration on 55-foot concrete poles, placing one circuit on the field side and the other on the roadside. This arrangement allowed the use of standard distribution line trucks and equipment, which can safely handle setting concrete poles up to 60 feet in height, and VPS verified that this construction method was already supported in the utility’s standards book.
After the utility’s standards group approved the VPS recommendation, the engineering firm updated the design to reflect the back-to-back overhead configuration.
Contract construction crews were then able to complete the work in time to meet the in-service date established by the state public service commission. VPS provided daily progress updates to the utility’s project manager, who, in turn, shared these reports with the commission to demonstrate that the project remained on track.
Adam Prosser, CEO of ATK Energy Group, emphasized the value of experienced field leadership on complex capital projects. He noted that effective job site management consistently delivers returns, but in this instance, strategic oversight reshaped the entire project to the advantage of both the utility and its customers, producing an estimated $1.4 million in savings.
About Victory Powerline Services
Victory Powerline Services, a member of ATK Energy Group, delivers high-quality oversight and support for construction and repair work on transmission, distribution, and substation facilities. The company relies on highly qualified linemen and engineers to ensure safe, reliable, and efficient execution in the field. Victory Powerline Services is a certified woman-owned business. For more information, email contact@victorypowerlineservices.com .
