Upgrades to Improve Reliability in Eastern Sussex County

Delaware Electric Cooperative’s Fairmount Substation is undergoing an upgrade to keep up with growing demand in eastern Sussex County. The substation, located along Indian Mission Road, serves the Long Neck, Angola, and Millsboro areas. These portions of the County have experienced dramatic development over the past decade, leading to an increased demand for electricity.

According to Jack Jester, DEC’s Manager of Substations and System Protection, “These upgrades are needed to ensure the Co-op is able to provide reliable energy to residents in this area for years to come. While many electric cooperatives across the country are losing members, we are adding several thousand new members every year and we’re going to make sure the system can keep up.”

A new transformer is being added to the Substation, which will double the facility’s baseload capacity from 20 megawatts to 40 megawatts. In basic terms, the changes will allow the substation to better serve the area.

Jester said the transformer cost $657,000 and the total upgrade of Fairmount Substation will cost $1.4 million. Engineers began planning for the project several years ago—the new transformer is being installed as part of a series of other infrastructure improvements in 2016.

Construction in the Substation started in April and the new transformer was placed inside the facility in September. The newly installed equipment is expected to begin delivering power to Co-op members in October.