The substation will be available for providing electrical power to additional customers in the area as demand dictates. The substation has been targeted by CU for several years, but the announced construction of the new Whirlpool facilities moved up the timetable.
“The construction of Chatata Creek Substation is almost complete with just a few tasks remaining,” according to Dennis Daniel, longtime manager of CU’s Electric Division who made his final report Thursday to Cleveland Utilities Board members.
A 39-year CU employee, Daniel is retiring effective in mid-December.
Progress on the new substation continues and completed a major hurdle recently when crews installed a 69 kv underground feed (electric cable).
“This [represents] the first time Cleveland Utilities has ever installed an underground feed at this high of a voltage,” Daniel told the board. “A factory representative from the terminator provider was on hand to assist us in installing the terminators for this cable.”
It was a meticulous process because of the strength of voltage.
“This was a very critical process that had to be performed in a precise manner to ensure the integrity of the termination,” Daniel explained.
Other substation work has been completed recently, including the concrete curbing around the sub’s perimeter; plus, the entire site has been covered in gravel.
All control and communication wiring has been installed and relays are now being programmed, Daniel noted.
“We expect the programming and testing of this equipment to be completed in a couple of weeks,” he said. “Once this has been completed, we will actually energize the two transformers so that final checks and testing can be performed.”
Daniel added, “At that point we can begin to pick up loads and finally start to integrate Chatata Creek Sub into our distribution system.”
He said a final delivery of underground cable is expected within the first week of December. Its immediate installation will mark the final step in the project’s completion.
Daniel’s division report included several other ongoing projects. They included:
Greenway lighting
A work order to install the next section of LED lighting for the Cleveland/Bradley County Greenway has been released. This section stretches from Raider Drive to Tinsley Park and will receive 69 of the new 70-watt LED fixtures with each light consuming about 50 watts less while providing more light than previous fixtures.
“The other benefit of these lights is that fewer transformers will be needed because the lights are able to work over a wider range of voltages, allowing for longer runs between transformers, thus saving money,” Daniel explained.
He said additional work orders to install lighting through the park will follow as the city of Cleveland completes the grade work on the Tinsley Park portion of the fitness trail.
Mouse Creek Crossing
With the recent openings of Buffalo Wild Wings, Batteries Plus and Orange Leaf Yogurt at the Mouse Creek Crossing retail complex, electric crews are now moving on to other work orders. Work was completed recently to install a 500-kva three-phase pad transformer to handle the increased load expected from additional shops and restaurants in the complex.
Olive Garden Restaurant
Another work order that was released and completed recently is permanent electric service to the new Olive Garden Restaurant which is reportedly scheduled for opening later this month.
Daniel said crews installed 250 feet of three-phase underground primary cable and a 225 kva pad transformer. Based on available load information, CU anticipates a demand of 180 kw once the restaurant is in full operation at the corner of North Keith Street and Huff Parkway in front of the Walmart Supercenter.
Estimated cost of providing the electric service was $9,536.
Gray Epperson Mitsubishi
Over the past few weeks, CU has worked with contractors constructing a new building at Gray Epperson Mitsubishi located on APD-40. After a request for three-phase power, CU engineers determined the electric load did not justify this type of power station.
However, CU granted the installation of additional conduits to accommodate any increased power load in the future. If eventually needed, the local utility will upgrade its facilities to meet any higher demand at no cost to the customer, Daniel said.
Kudos given to David Tyner
Daniel praised the work of employee David Tyner in the Electric Division’s engineering department who maintains the responsibility of ensuring that loads and currents on CU’s 46 circuit breakers, six reclosers and two pulse closers is balanced. Tyler monitors the balance of all CU substations and line devices, he said.
Daniel called Tyner’s efforts a
“... very important task that goes on basically on a daily basis and gets little recognition.”
The Electric Division manager spoke to the importance of the role.
“Failure to keep up with balance could result in breakers unnecessarily tripping or even unplanned outages,” Daniel noted. “After the storms a few months ago, a few areas began to show some imbalance due to lines having to be temporarily fed from other sources. The imbalance was not enough to cause tripping, but needed to be corrected to avoid problems in the future.”
