On April 6, 2020, a Vandalia resident cut a tree down on the northeast side of town. The massive tree landed on the power lines. This caused a high fault amp current which resulted in the Vandalia substation fire. The city was out of power for approximately 12 hours. The northeast side of town was out for even longer. Without the support of Central Electric and their mobile substation and Consolidated Electrics manpower, the city would have been out of power for a lot longer. At this time, Central Electric was proposing to construct a new substation, along with installing two new transformers and new feeder reclosers. With this agreement, the city will also be transferring ownership of the 69kv transmission line. This would be a cost sharing agreement for the Vandalia substation. Central Electric expects the substation to cost between $2.65 - $3.15 million. If the city was to rebuild the substation themselves it would cost between $2.5 - $3 million. With the transferring of the 69kv Line, the cities cost would only be $1,253,600.00. The Transmission Line carries electricity at voltages of 69kv or greater and is used to transmit electric power over relatively long distances, from a central generating station to main substations. Since the City of Vandalia Electric Department does not have the training or equipment, the city pays Central Electric to repair and maintain the transmission line that carries the electricity to the city. Central Electric controls the operation of the 69kv line and can turn it off at any time if we have trouble. The Electric Department maintains the distribution lines which carries electricity at lower voltages of 2.4kv to 4.16kv and is used to distribute power drawn from high-voltage transmission systems to end-use customers. On December 8, 2020 the city council approved to convey ownership of a new substation and also transfer ownership of our 69KV line, to Central Electric. Prior to the substation fire in 2020, staff had started working on some preliminary plans to upgrade our electrical system. We need to convert our remaining circuits from 2400 Delta to 4160Y. After the substation fire, staff felt that it would be best to put this project on hold until after the substation was completed. Although these upgrades have been put on hold, we need to upgrade one of our circuits before the substation is completed. Before our new substation can be energized, circuit 12 needs to be completely converted from 2400 delta to 4160 volts. Several years ago, part of this circuit was converted to 4160 volts along with other areas of our electric grid. The long-range goal of the city is to convert all circuits to 4160 volts. We have been saving money for many years for this project in the Capital Improvements Fund, Electric 102 Conversion. We are recommending using some of those funds to pay for this project. The current balance of the Electric 102 Conversion fund is $860,060.65. The Board of Aldermen approved Sellenriek Energy LLC to complete the conversion of circuit 12 from 2400 delta to 4160 volts at a cost of $87,264.06. Currently Sellenriek is working on the conversion at this time.
On April 3rd, the contractors and the city officials and electric department toured the new substation. The substation is energized and awaiting the conversion of circuit 12.