Roanoke getting power upgrade

The work taking place in the downtown area means the lights will come back on quicker in the event of storms and outages. Bud Heard, who is engineering supervisor with Alabama Power Company, said the power company is converting the downtown area from a 4KV system to a 12KV system, or from a 4,160 kilovolt system to a 12,470 kilovolt system.

Downtown Roanoke is unique, he said, in that it is still on the old system.

“It is the oldest in our service territory,” Heard said.

The work the crews are doing now will allow the power company more flexibility in the event of extended outages. Right now if there was a major outage it would take hours or days to get something working, he said.

Once this work is complete downtown could draw electricity from East Roanoke, Rock Mills and other areas of Roanoke.

The improvements will also give another opportunity to feed Randolph Medical Center. When the work is finished it will give an alternate way to supply the hospital, Heard said.

Across the state, except where there are electrical cooperatives, Alabama Power is trying to replace all these old systems. One still needing this type improvement is Dadeville, he said.

The company has been wanting to do this for several years, he said. Areas included in this project are West Point, Government, and Chestnut streets and Louina Road, among others.

Diversified Services is contracting with Alabama Power to do this work but he said most of the people are local, from Clay County and Talladega, for example, who have a vested interest in completing this work.

Additional improvements include wiring changes and changing the poles for greater height. Specifications have changed over the years and the new poles will look better too, he said.

“We have to have outages. What we’re doing is kind of walking our way through it. We are handing out fliers, hanging them on the door and talking to people so they will expect the power outage. They may knock on doors and tell you when there will be outages. For extended outages we will bring in more crews,” Heard said.

But, they will give some lead time. He has not yet discussed it with the foreman but said there may some work done on Sundays. They are getting ready to convert the schools prior to their re-opening, he said.

“We’re scheduled to be through with this by the end of the year. I have been told to get it done by the end of the year. Right now I’m shooting for November. The downtown area will be the most time-consuming,” Heard said, partly due to heavy traffic and having to break concrete to remove and replace the poles.

The district that includes Roanoke runs from Hollis Crossroads to LaFayette and from the Georgia line to Ashland, Millerville and areas there.

Another plus for the company is reducing the warehouse inventory of the old transformers that will likely to be sent to the Florida facility since they are no longer needed here, he said. They may be sold for scrap there.