Exelon’s Delmarva Power said recently that the new Beaglin substation and upgraded Fruitland substation will enhance electric service for more than 21,000 customers across Wicomico County, Maryland.
Timothy Stokes, senior communications specialist, Pepco Holdings, on March 4 told TransmissionHub that the Fruitland substation was energized in late 4Q19, while the Beaglin substation was energized in late 2Q19.
The cost to upgrade the Fruitland substation was $3m, while the Beaglin substation represents a $14.5m investment in the local energy grid, Stokes said. Both 69-kV substations are located in Wicomico County, he said.
Delmarva Power, in its Feb. 19 statement, said that the new substations are part of a broader reliability improvement effort that the company is implementing on the Eastern Shore to reduce outages and enhance the resiliency of the local energy grid. That effort includes modernizing the infrastructure, such as transmission and distribution lines, and adding greater automation on the local energy grid with new substations and equipment, the company said.
Built by Delmarva Power and local contract crews, the new substations will help deliver energy more efficiently and create new configurations on the local energy grid that allow Delmarva Power to automatically restore service more quickly by isolating damage, the company said, adding that by automating certain functions on the electric system, the new substations create a smarter energy grid and reduce the number of potential outages in the neighborhoods they serve.
Among other things, Delmarva Power said that over the past five years, ongoing investments in the local energy grid have driven a 36% decrease in the frequency of electric outages.
