At 10:35 a.m. on May 23, three blue-white arcs and a hair-raising zapping sound signaled that the high-voltage feed to Buckeye REC’s new Scottown Substation was connected, and the transformer was “hot.”

Although it would take several days to shift all load from the old station next door, energizing the new transformer effectively marked the retirement of a decades-old work horse and the beginning of a new high-tech generation of power delivery.

The old and new substations sit side-by-side. The elder station, dating back to the early days of the co-op, qualifies for antique-hood, with its tea-kettle black transformers and distinctive “ticking” noise.

“She’s worked a lot of years,” observed Operations Manager Marvin Ours. He did not have to add what everyone at Buckeye REC believed: old Scottown Substation was well past retirement age and needed to be phased out. The facility was scheduled to be scrapped immediately, with usable equipment salvaged.

In her final days, however, the elder Scottown Substation did yeoman’s duty. On two occasions, she helped back-feed the Windsor Substation while American Electric Power completed transmission line work.

“It was past time to retire her,” Ours said. “She went out on a high note after all those years.”

The new substation is fed via a new transmission line. Gone is the Bradrick transmission route over eight miles of mountains and rough terrain, which linked old Scottown Substation to the grid.

“It’s going to help a lot in reducing storm outages by abandoning the old transmission path,” said Ours. “Plus, this new substation is state-of-the-art, with the latest digital controls and monitors.”

The new Scottown station is also designed to handle load growth in southern Lawrence County for many years.

“Better power reliability, better power quality, and a station that can handle the growth are what we have,” Ours added. “This new substation and transmission system also gives us the ability to loop-feed other Buckeye station circuits in the event of problems.”