The electric power grid in the Texas Panhandle could become even more stable, thanks to ongoing investments and improvements by Xcel Energy, the company announced recently.

“The distribution system is made up of substations and lines that move power directly to our customers,”said Adrian J. Rodriguez, president of Xcel Energy – Texas. “As our customer base grows and asbusinesses use more electricity, it’s vital to ensure the system keeps pace with these changes. Equally asimportant is making sure the lights can stay on no matter what nature throws at us, and these ongoingsystem investments have proved their worth during multiple extreme weather events the past two years.”

Xcel, which has built new substations and expansions in Amarillo and Canyon, will complete two more substations before the end of 2022. Going into the new year, the company plans to add new substations to Dumas and Dalhart, along with replacing old poles and wires across the Panhandle service area.

"Deciding when to add a new substation, and where it should be located, is an involved process sincethese facilities are expensive to build and will need to be in service for decades," said Perry Foster, XcelEnergy’s regional director for Substation Operations and Maintenance in Amarillo. "We have anexperienced team that is constantly analyzing trends in customer needs, and they’ve done a terrific jobupgrading our system to manage current and future growth."

Xcel is in the process of completing two million-dollar projects in Amarillo. A larger, $20.1 million substation will be built near the older Lawrence Park Substation, and will serve west-central neighborhoods and commercial customers.

The new $12.6 million Preston West Substation, with distribution lines southeast of the intersection of Coulter Street and Loop 335, is in progress. It was added due to growth in that area, and will help free some capacity on the Estacado and Spring Draw substations.

Additional projects planned for 2023 and 2024 include:

• The new Echo Substation, under construction off Echo Street northeast of the Northeast 24th Avenue and Mirror Street intersection, to boost reliability in North Amarillo.

• The new Arnot Substation, planned east of Arnot Road between Interstate 40 and Hollywood Road, boosting reliability and capacity in the Bushland and west Amarillo area.

• An expansion of Farmers Substation on South Georgia Street at Farmers Avenue.

• The planned Ashby Substation in eastern Dalhart, which will provide capacity to serve new commercial customers and provide additional switching options to keep power flowing when extreme weather threatens reliability.

• The new Demon Substation east of Dumas, designed to relieve pressure on existing substations in central Dumas that are reaching maximum capacity during peak usage times.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Xcel Energy prepares expansions across Texas Panhandle, Amarillo