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By Ron Fitzwater
The overcast and rainy skies could not dampen the spirits
of officials and members of Blue Ridge Electric Membership Cooperative
as they gathered to officially open the new substation and NW
North Carolina power hub on Highway 163 near the Obids community
in West Jefferson Wednesday, Oct. 24. The station was energized
in June and had technically been handling the load requirements
for the mountain district since Tuesday, Sept. 11.
The new substation's controls
use a microprocessor base designed to improve service
by reducing the amount of time needed to troubleshoot
and begin repairs when faults occur. The controls relay
information to the 24-hour control center in Lenoir via
the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system where
operators dispatch linemen based on automatic reports.
Photo by Ron Fitzwater |
The substation receives 230,000 volts of electricity from Duke
Power in Wilkesboro through two enormous high voltage transmission
lines, visible from Highway 163. The electricity is then stepped
down to 100,000 volts and relayed out through six transmission
lines to other substations in Allegheny, Watauga and Ashe Counties
where it is passed on throughout the districts served.
The ceremony was prefaced by a barbecue lunch catered by Smokey
Mountain Barbeque of West Jefferson and following a short social
period, Blue Ridge Electric officials addressed the members and
guests.
Blue Ridge Electric President Kenny Green welcomed guests calling
the event, a very important milestone for the corporation. "Our
new facility will ensure that our over 52,000 members in our mountain
district will receive the most reliable flow of electricity now
and for many years in the future," he said. Green explained
that the mass of steel and wires visible was only the surface
of what had been accomplished. "What our customers in Watauga,
Ashe, Wilkes, Avery and Allegheny Counties, will receive is so
much more than the poles and wires of the substation you see today.
This project represents home, and it represents livelihoods-it
represents our schools, hospital, businesses, and our neighborhoods.
The facility represents not only the biggest reliability project
in our history, but more importantly this project represents the
lifeblood of the communities which you and I call home in NW North
Carolina."
"This is an incredibly important day for us because one of
the big responsibilities we have is to provide reliable electric
service to the area," said Blue Ridge Electric Chief Executive
Officer Doug Johnson. Johnson pointed out that currently the Cooperative
is serving 71,000 consumers and industry estimates suggest that
within the next 20 years the number could surpass 100,000. The
new substation will provide the company with that capacity. The
addition of the station has already increased output to customers
50 percent over previous amounts and is expandable by an additional
50 percent when demands increase.
The increased output does not mean an increase in costs to consumers.
In fact according to Johnson just the opposite is taking place.
"This cooperative has to go about 18 miles down into Wilkes
County to interconnect into the Duke transmission grid in order
to bring the power here, and we have negotiated some new agreements
with Duke that are allowing us to reduce your electric bill and
I think that is good news for consumers. So, while we are putting
online a $20 million investment we are also announcing the typical
consumers electric bill is going to go down, and that is good
news," he said.
The modernization project included eight miles of upgraded or
new high-capacity power transmission lines, a new substation in
West Jefferson, and upgrades to the Beaver Creek and Horse Gap
substations. Blue Ridge Electric and their partners were able
to reduce the number of poles that had to be erected causing less
impact along the right-of-way. During construction higher voltage
lines required a greater amount of ground clearance and higher
poles to cover the distance from Wilkesboro.
Describing the new facility as the hub of the region, Lee Layton,
Chief Operating Officer for Blue Ridge Electric called the opening
of the new substation the key component to increasing the company's
reliability going forward. "We think we have pretty good
reliability now, but going forward this will enable us to continue
to serve this area for 50 years or more. So, it is a significant
improvement in reliability and capacity." The substation's
controls are all microprocessor based which improves service by
reducing the amount of time needed to troubleshoot and begin repairs
when faults occur. "It used to be when we had a fault on
the line, the lineman would have to drive to each pole on the
line looking for the problem, and sometimes the lines are 20 miles
long. With the type of controls we have now, the lineman can come
in and look at the relay and it will tell him that the fault is,
say three miles out towards Deep Gap going toward Watauga, and
then he can drive out and have a much reduced search time. This
dramatically improves our service restoration by being able to
get to that fault much quicker," he said. Additionally, the
controls relay the information to the control center in Lenoir
via the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system. The center
is staffed 24 hours a day and operators there will receive the
automatic reports and can dispatch linemen to a more precise point.
Following the remarks Green, Johnson and Layton cut the ribbon
and officially declared the substation open.
A short tour followed the ceremony providing attendees the opportunity
to get a first hand look inside the new station and learn a little
about what it takes to keep the lights on in the mountain district.
Blue Ridge Electric worked in cooperation with members who own
property along the project's right-of-way to minimize impacts
and mitigate concerns. Cooperative officials spoke with approximately
100 residents in person to talk about the project and collect
feedback.
In addition to Blue Ridge Electric, other companies partnered
in the project; Heath Huovinen of Appalachian Professional Land
Surveyors and Consultants conducted the surveying, Vanoy Construction
conducted the site work, Power Engineers designed the facility,
Shaw Construction conducted the construction of the large transmission
lines, Aubrey-Silvey Enterprises built the station and Booth and
Associates did the relays and checks.
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