Wednesday, Mar. 15, 2023–9:13 a.m.
-David Crowder, WRGA News-
Late last year, a fire at a substation left more than 1,000 left many Cave Spring residents without power for many hours. Georgia Power has announced a project that will hopefully reduce the chances of a similar outage from happening again.
The project includes the upgrading of six miles of single-phase line to three-phase line from the northern side of Cave Spring and the upgrading of seven miles on the eastern side, also from single-phase to three-phase line.
On Oct. 4, Georgia Power engineers responded to an outage and a report of a fire at the Cave Spring substation. Once the fire was put out, it was discovered that there was some damage that needed further action was needed. So, a mobile station was set up while repairs were made. However, the area was without power for much of the day as a result.
According to Melvon Ingram with Georgia Power, upgrading the distribution lines will help mitigate outages in the event of a substation issue in the area. The improvements are also expected to help isolate any other faults with the area’s distribution system.
“If there is a disruption in the line, we will be able to isolate it and limit any disruptions in service,” he said.
Survey work for the project is already underway and the estimated completion date is Dec.31.
The project will also include a mix of upgrading hardware and spacing on existing poles, as well as the installation of new poles.
3,309 customers over the two distribution circuits are expected to benefit.
Council discusses telephone pole relocation following a couple of collisions
The telephone pole near Southern Flavor at Alabama Street and Rome Road in Cave Spring has been struck twice by semi-trucks recently, and city officials would like to see something done to prevent it from happening again.
During Tuesday’s city council meeting, there were calls for AT&T to relocate the pole.
“My main concern right now is that the pole, as it is now, is not sturdy,” said Cave Spring Police Chief Greg Webb. “If something else hits it, it’s coming down.”
Other possible solutions could be installing a metal pole, moving the pole across the street, or moving it further from the roadway.
The council would like to have a representative from AT&T attend a future meeting to discuss the issue further.