Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command Northwest, in coordination with Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility, began work to replace a degraded electrical substation in the Controlled Industrial Area of the shipyard in March.

The project—named P891 Shipyard Electrical Backbone—is part of the Navy’s Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program and will improve power capacity and reliability at the shipyard in support of fleet maintenance activities, per a Navy news release. The enhanced infrastructure will supply consistent power to essential services, including hotel service (shore power), ship repair (industrial power), ship systems testing, pier weight handling equipment, pier lighting, and miscellaneous pier receptacles.

As new naval platforms enter the fleet, they bring advanced technologies and capabilities that demand significantly more power to operate and maintain. To meet these growing energy requirements, the new substation will increase the capacity of the existing system from 60 megavolt-amperes to 100. The increased capacity will supply the electrical needs of a proposed new multi-mission dry dock along with all of the associated support systems, per the release.

P891 is a precursor to an additional electrical substation replacement project in support of homeporting nuclear-powered aircraft carriers at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, specifically the new Gerald R. Ford class.