How far out into the future does the Gallatin Department of Electricity (GDE) need to plan to be able to keep the lights on? At GDE we have a 10 year plan that covers all sorts of capital projects that enable us to provide reliable, resilient electric service. The GDE Power Board reviews the 10 year capital plan at least once a year and if growth is high, we may discuss the plan 3 to 4 times during any given year. Planning for substations and major electric feeder lines is critical to the continued growth of Gallatin and keeping the power supply reliable. We can reach a point where we would not be able to supply electricity to all the customers of Gallatin.
A substation can take up to five years to plan, order equipment and construct. Sometimes it may be difficult to find land in the right spot to build a substation. If there is not a Tennessee Valley Authority transmission line close, then TVA will need to find a route, purchase right-of-way and construct a transmission line to supply power to the new GDE substation. That can take up to 4 years from start to finish. We are in the middle of this process on the north side of the city on Albert Gallatin Boulevard at the 109 North ramp. Once construction starts, it will take about one year to build the substation. This new substation is not only critical to supply the north side of Gallatin with electricity, but the substation will also be able to back feed the downtown area if a problem develops with our City Substation near Jones Street. GDE has never had this type of backup electricity before. That means GDE will have the ability to shorten outages in different areas of Gallatin. Any time we can do that means better service to the citizens of Gallatin.
We are excited about the substation on Albert Gallatin. It means better electric service and that is what the capital plan is for. Any project on the 10-year plan should improve GDE electric service. What is on the 10-year plan? New substations, rebuilds of old substations, recondutor of old distribution lines for increased capacity, building of new facilities on Jones Street to house GDE staff to better service the public, purchases of needed land to house futures substation, and more.
As you can see, the capital plan is GDE’s view into the future of what is needed to be a top tier power provider for the citizens of Gallatin. In 1967, Superintendent Bill Parker said “We cannot look into the past for too long, for even while we do this, the community is building and expanding, and electrical facilities must also be expanded and improved to meet the demands of tomorrow.” We have to plan for the future or the future will not allow us to succeed. At GDE we try to use the proverbial crystal ball so that we can provide electric power to all of Gallatin and to provide it in a reliable way and be good stewards of the resources that we have. We do this because we want Gallatin to have the best electric service in the Tennessee Valley.