“This is a very major project for us,” said Erica Schmidt of Connexus Energy.
Connexus is replacing the city’s decades old substation with a better one.
“Every year we do some kind of a substation project and this year due to reliability and age we’re looking to rebuild this one,” Schmidt said.
The new substation should be up and running in December. It will control how much juice goes out to residents in Circle Pines and other area cities.
“A substation is used to reduce voltage from transmission line levels to a more normal distribution level,” Schmidt said. “Power is more efficient at higher voltages which is why transmission is a higher voltage. Substations bring it down so that we can use smaller, more efficient transformers in residential areas.”
Money well spent
The cost of the project is several million dollars, but Schmidt believes this is money well spent.
“Substation equipment is very expensive,” Schmidt said. “You need it and it’s worth it. I only see benefits for the community for doing this. The substation was here before most of these houses were built so they’ve always seen it. The transformer that we’re taking out was one of the louder ones, being from 1968. This new one will be so much quieter.”
Besides the new transformer, there will equipment upgrades and better engineering standards. This is necessary to keep up with power production.
“We’re seeing an increase in demand for electricity,” Schmidt said. “Especially with electric vehicles coming, just different data loads.”
Part of the project includes removing power lines and telephone poles.
“It’s a very big deal,” Schmidt said. “I’m very excited. It’s a lot of fun to see something go from design, to purchasing, to arriving and here it is actually happening. I know I’ll sleep a little easier in December when it’s all over, that’s for sure.”
Schmidt says that the substation has a built-in protection scheme – which is a buffer between transmissions and houses so it’s more reliable.
