Xcel invests into $23.5 M substation
USA, Texas, Hereford: Over the last few years, Xcel Energy has invested billions into the region’s power grid.
Image source: ABC news
USA, Texas, Hereford: Over the last few years, Xcel Energy has invested billions into the region’s power grid.
Their latest investment is a $23.5 M substation project south of Hereford.
Steel has gone up at the Tierra Blanca Substation just south of an existing one in Hereford, but the two stations are to be tied together.
“We realized there was a little bit of a weakness in that area,” said Xcel spokesman Wes Reeves. “Normally, we would just expand the substation, but there is also a lot of growth there, so we are basically building a new substation that is sort of like an annex to the original substation.”
Reeves says this will bring redundancies and larger capacity to the system, as sort of a “future-proofing”.
Part of that effort is replacing the aging infrastructure.
“It was put in after the war, i.e., World War II. So, it is a long time back, and of course, a lot has happened since then,” said Reeves.
The project, though, is an attractive asset in an area where agriculture is king, and as farmers drill deeper wells, they need more power to pump water out.
“Any time we add new strength to the power grid, it is helping everybody, because it is really one system when you look at it,” Reeves said.
Crews have been working on the project for about four months now. As for when it could be fully operational, officials say that is going to have to wait until November.
Source: ABC news