Duke Energy to install substation in western North Carolina town

SWANNANOA, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Duke Energy’s online outage map is covered with notifications of places without electricity.

Company spokesperson Jeff Brooks says over 1000 locations are without power. Helene’s heavy wind and rain damaged hundreds of substations across the Carolinas.

A substation helps to reduce the voltage on the electric system from our transmission system which you can think of as the interstate of the electric grid,  moving power from the power plants to the local community. The substation’s job is to take that very high voltage electricity and reduce it so that it can be distributed around a town or city.

“That substation is no longer functional and cannot be simply repaired. It has to be rebuilt. And that’s a time-consuming process and we want to get power back up for customers as soon as possible,” says Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks.

PREVIOUS: Duke Energy gives an update on the power outages, repairs across the Carolinas

Brooks says Duke crews will install a portable substation in Swannanona on Wednesday. The portable substations weigh more than 200,000 pounds.

They’ll hold until the long-term repairs to the area’s permanent substation are complete.

“One of the challenges that we’re facing in some of these areas are that the roads were washed out near the substation or damaged. So one of the things we were doing today is analyzing those roads and actually doing some grading and preparing the ground to bring these temporary substations in,” Brooks said. “They’re large, big pieces of equipment that have to be brought in very slowly and installed. So we need the roads to be able to handle that. The bridges that serve that area have to be able to take that equipment. So we’re doing a lot of inspecting today, a lot of road improvement to be able to get that equipment into the substation and install it over the subsequent days this week.”

The utility company is working to get these substations into other mountain areas and upstate South Carolina.

“So things are getting better, but we’re not out of the woods yet. Still a lot of power lines down. And as you know, in this storm has knocked down trees, which knocked down power lines, which caused everything that runs all electricity to stop. And we still have this choke point, although we’re getting more and more chainsaw crews, we still have to be careful,” said South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

“No matter who or where you are in western North Carolina, if you need help we are working around the clock to reach you,” said North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper.

Brooks says they’ve faced challenging conditions in damaged service areas forcing them to get creative in solving problems.

“For most customers, we are still trying to get them back on by the end of Friday. That’s still our projection. If we have to update that, we’ll certainly update customers, but we’re making good progress,” Brooks said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX8 WGHP.