DREMC director of engineering Blake Butler, left, gives a tour of the new Wartrace substation to, from left, State Sen. Jim Tracy, DREMC board member Barry Cooper, U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, Wartrace Mayor Don Gallagher, (partially hidden) Jean Gallagher and State Rep. Curt Cobb. (T-G Photo by John I. Carney) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Duck River Electric Membership Corp. gave U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon and other dignitaries a tour Monday of the new $2 million electric substation near Wartrace.

The new substation went online in March, but Monday was its official dedication.

"It's an important part of our service to Bedford County," said DREMC general manager Jim Allison.

The new substation replaces a switching station that was located on the same site as a TVA substation just north of the new site. DREMC's equipment there is being dismantled, but the rest of the TVA facility is still in operation.

The main transformer at the new substation, which accounts for $930,000 of the price, reduces the incoming TVA voltage from 161,000 volts to 25,000 volts, which is DREMC's distribution voltage. Allison said it would benefit all of eastern Bedford County, from Beech Grove to Normandy.

Allison said the old switching station had been around since at least the 1940s.

During his remarks at the site, Gordon praised the beauty of the area.

"What a pretty part of the world this is," he said. He noted that his mother, a native of Normandy, had her first teaching job in Wartrace.

Gordon said he'd been meeting with a caucus of federal legislators from the TVA area, including U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander and U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer of Alabama, to discuss issues like promotion of new technology such as "plug-in hybrid" vehicles. Such vehicles are connected to a charger overnight.

Gordon said TVA and its member utilities have extra power capacity in the evenings, and it makes sense to find ways to use this power, which would help TVA's profitability. It's possible, he said, that as battery technology improves, homeowners may have batteries which would allow them to store power during the night. Eventually, utilities may use large-capacity batteries to store power during excess periods and use it during high-demand periods.

Gordon said better management of electric capacity is a key to energy independence.

Also in attendance were State Sen. Jim Tracy, State Rep. Curt Cobb, Wartrace Mayor Don Gallagher, DREMC board chairman Brent Willis, and several DREMC board members.

Blake Butler, director of engineering for DREMC, gave a tour of the facility. Butler said it takes about a year of lead time for the transformer to be ordered from Siemens, its manufacturer.

In the event of a problem with the main transformer, the substation is designed to provide easy access to DREMC's mobile transformer, which is designed as a short-term replacement. DREMC also has two other backup transformers in storage, which can be used anywhere in its multi-county system.

The new system has new automation features that will eventually allow it to be operated completely from DREMC offices in Shelbyville.

DREMC, which is based in Shelbyville, is a member-owned cooperative providing electricity to all or part of 15 Middle Tennessee counties, including the parts of Bedford County not served by Shelbyville Power, Water and Sewerage System.