Construction is complete and Cullman Electric Cooperative’s 17th substation is now providing electricity to co-op members. The new Ryan Creek substation is located north of County Road 222, just west of Exit 305 on Interstate 65.

     Cullman EC Senior Systems Engineer Justin Lee said discussions about the need for a new substation started in 2015, and the co-op began working with TVA on a project plan in 2016.

     “In 2016, a new four-year work plan was being developed that outlined the need for more capacity in the areas currently served by 24th Street substation,” Lee said. “We knew with the new interstate interchange coming, combined with the growing industrial and residential load that a load center would likely develop in this area, and the 24th Street substation would not be able to carry that load at its current capacity.”

     Construction started in August 2018. In addition to the substation, which can serve 50-plus megawatts of load if needed, a new 161-kilovolt transmission line and four new 25-kilovolt distribution circuits were constructed to serve future load.

     Areas that will be served from the new substation are the industrial loads west of the County Road 222/Interstate 65 interchange and also residential load in the Good Hope and Trimble areas as well as various areas along the I-65 corridor including County Road 469, County Road 436 and County Road 222.

            Lee said tremendous teamwork made this a successful project. Companies that assisted Cullman EC include St. John and Associates (Cullman); Manning Construction (Cullman); Patterson & Dewar (Norcross, GA); TVA; Aubrey Silvey Enterprises (Carrolton, GA);  Lee Electrical Construction (Aberdeen, NC); L.E. Myers Co. (Chattanooga, TN); Siemens, Modular Connections (Bessemer, AL); Howard Industries (Laurel, MS); Keystone Electrical Manufacturing (Des Moines, IA); and Substation Enterprises (Alabaster, AL).