Substation project in north Tupelo on pace for 2025 completion
TUPELO — City officials took the next step in a project that will see power capacity in north Tupelo increase exponentially.
The Tupelo City Council unanimously approved the bid and $2.1 million contract with Fayetteville, Georgia-based contractors Power Grid Company for labor and materials in the construction for the North Green Street substation. The project’s scope will be to build the structure’s bones, which will house power transformers the city previously purchased.
“Once all that’s done, then all we will be doing is waiting on the power transformers, which is still a year out for delivery,” Tupelo Water & Light Director Johnny Timmons said.
Timmons said Wednesday that the transformers expected delivery date is December of this year and it should take about 30 days to install once the structure is complete. The contract with Power Grid Company, he added, gives the contractors until April 2025 to complete, but he expects it will be complete well before that.
“They will be hitting the ground here pretty soon,” he said.
Once complete, the substation will feed four power lines, which connect to portions of North Gloster Street, North Green Street, Madison Street and Lakeshire Drive. With the new lines, the overall load on the existing grid will lessen, boosting capacity and reliability overall, Timmons said.
The city previously approved a $102,200 land sale to the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a transmission line along about an acre of land connecting to the power substation. But the project started in earnest in February 2023 with the $469,322 purchase of about 6.5 acres on North Green Street from Cleveland Properties LLC.
Timmons said previously that the project will not cause a rise in customer rates.
Meanwhile, Timmons said the work on underground utilities on East Jackson Street from Madison to Front street. Missouri-based contractor Reinhold Construction will begin on Front Street near the Tupelo Police Department.
As of Wednesday, East Jackson Street will remain open, Timmons said, but the city will close the street from Madison to Church Street when contractors begin work there.
