The award of a $143,750 contract for construction of a power substation and installation of equipment at the Colorado River Indian Agency, Parker, Ariz., was announced today by the Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.
The contract calls for construction of a 20,000 kilowatt substation and installation of equipment. The substation will receive electronic power from a Bureau of Reclamation 161,000-volt transmission line and reduce the power to 34,500 and 69,000 volts for transmission through the Colorado River Indian Irrigation Project power system.
The system provides electricity for project pumps and water control structures and for customers on the rapidly developing Colorado River Indian Reservation and nearby area. A steadily increasing load has been placed on the system in recent months and additional power requirements are foreseen as need continues for additional pumping to irrigate reservation lands.
The present substation facilities at the Bureau of Reclamation's Parker Dam Power Plant have a capacity available to the Colorado River Irrigation Project of 6,000 kilowatts. The system's power requirements will exceed this capacity by the summer of 1967 when the new substation will be completed. The increased capacity will provide for future irrigation growth, especially for pumping to irrigate Indian lands for which water rights were decreed in recent Supreme Court Case.
Successful bidder was Kinetic Engineering and Construction, Inc., and B&A Electric Co., a joint venture, of Sacramento, Calif. Three higher bids were received ranging to $177,926.
