Mississippi Power upgrades service voltage for town of Union

As part of Mississippi Power’s grid investment initiative to continuously improve reliability for customers, line crews recently completed the latest installment in a four-phase project to upgrade the town of Union’s distribution system. 

The installation completed the town’s voltage conversion from 4kV to 12kV which improves operational flexibility, adds reliability for customers, makes it consistent with others across the company’s service territory and prepares it for full implementation of a self-healing network.  

“Our goal is to provide the highest quality of service to our customers at all times,” said Northern Division Engineer Austin Waldrup. “This conversion project will greatly serve our customers in Union and provide them with a stronger, more effective power system.” 

All customers in Union are now powered through the 12kV system. This phase of the project included upgrading some of the last 4kV circuits to 12kV and enabled the retirement of the town’s final 4kV facility – Union Magnolia Substation. 

Converting the distribution system helps improve resiliency against system disturbances, resulting in fewer and shorter outages. 

The completed phases of the project included the following work: 

• Around 140 overhead transformers replaced.
• 65 new wooden poles installed.
• Approximately 80,000 feet of conductor installed.

Each transformer, whether new or replaced, was installed with animal mitigation technology to protect and preserve wildlife. 

“Our crews worked safely and efficiently making this conversion happen,” said Line Construction and Maintenance Supervisor Charlie Watson. “The project was successful and contributes to our goal of improving reliability by upgrading our distribution system which should minimize outages for our customers.”  

Now in its 98th year of operations, Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), produces safe, reliable and affordable energy for more than 191,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties. Mississippi Power was honored with a Community Partner Impact Award from the Center for Energy Workforce Development for its innovative and ongoing efforts to build a diverse workforce. The Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve recently recognized Mississippi Power for its commitment to its military workforce. Mississippi Power has nearly 160MW of solar capacity at four locations across the company’s service territory, including Southern Company’s first project to combine the latest, cutting-edge solar technology with battery storage. Visit our websites at mississippipower.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.