SLIB provides $1.5 M loan for Powell substation rebuild
USA, Ohio, Powell: State officials recently approved a $1.5 M loan that will help the City of Powell pay for renovations to the Vining Substation.
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USA, Ohio, Powell: State officials recently approved a $1.5 M loan that will help the City of Powell pay for renovations to the Vining Substation.
The State Loan and Investment Board (SLIB) approved the loan earlier this month. The SLIB loan will cover the second phase of the project. The city can accept the loan any time before June 2021 and will not begin accruing interest until it is accepted.
The first phase of the $2.9 M expansion and upgrade project will be paid for with reserves from the city’s electrical enterprise fund, which is filled by revenues generated from providing city residents electricity.
State documents say the project will include adding a third, larger 20 MVA transformer, control building, steel structure for primary conductors, and a steel structure for secondary conductors and equipment.
“Staff believes this project is a good project and will contribute to the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the City Powell,” SLIB staff had written in a board report, recommending approval.
The entire project will take two years to complete, and construction on the first phase will begin next year in May.
“This will drastically improve the electrical grid and reliability even before the second phase is complete,” said City Administrator Zack Thorington.
The need to rebuild the 30-year-old substation became apparent when a fire at the facility shut down power to the city for several hours last summer. The city performed some improvements in August to help stabilise the city’s grid until a full rebuild could be done, which required a few planned outages. Thorington said the rebuild project will likely require more planned outages next summer.
Source: Powell Tribune