DEC Opens New Warehouse to Keep up With Growth

Construction of a massive new warehouse has been completed at Delaware Electric Cooperative’s headquarters along Rt. 13 south of Greenwood. The 20,000 square-foot building will house electrical equipment and other supplies used to maintain the Cooperative’s more than 7,000 miles of power lines.

Delaware’s second largest electric utility is adding several thousand new services every year. Growth in 2017 reached a pace not seen since the housing boom during the early 2000s and the storage space is necessary to house extra supplies needed to support a growing system.The building will also allow the Co-op to house more electrical equipment and supplies that are necessary to restore power during major storms. 

Construction of the warehouse started in the spring of 2017, but got off to a rough start. A weak tornado struck the construction site in June, flipping two construction trailers and damaging another DEC storage building. Thankfully, the storm caused no significant damage to the site and, after a few days of clean-up, construction proceeded on schedule.

The project was designed by Pat Ryan and managed by Richard Y. Johnson and Son, Inc. The building will provide much needed storage space – the Cooperative’s current warehouse has been in use since the 1960s.

According to Delaware Electric Cooperative’s President and CEO Bill Andrew, “We are one of the fastest growing electric cooperatives in the nation, and it’s something we are very proud of. People want to move to our wonderful state and want to be served by our cooperative. To continue to provide exceptional service to members, we have to make sure our facilities are capable of handling the additional homes and businesses and this is part of meeting that goal.”

The warehouse cost $4 million to construct and will serve DEC and its 95,000 members for decades.

Delaware Electric Cooperative is a member-owned electric utility serving more than 95,000 member-owners in Kent and Sussex County, Delaware. For more information, visit us on the web at www.delaware.coop or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.