Crews recently began construction on a new electric station in Lenox Township that will help ensure reliable power travels all the way from our generation plants to both Macomb and St. Clair Counties.
This station is just one part of a $95 million investment to upgrade the equipment that delivers power to Armada, Marysville and Richmond. Other work includes:
- Repairing and upgrading 27 miles of overhead infrastructure, including wires, crossarms, transformers and other electrical equipment.
- Replacing older wooded utility poles with stronger steel poles.
- Trimming or removing trees growing close to power lines. Trimming trees makes room for the new electrical equipment. It also helps reduce outages by preventing trees from falling onto power lines and damaging equipment.
This work will improve the grid’s safety and help keep the lights on for customers in the area, especially during extreme weather.
PROGRESS
January 2023 – July 2023: Crews inspected and replaced six miles of electrical equipment that delivers power to Armada, including overhead wires, crossarms and 175 utility poles. We also trimmed 4.5 miles of trees in the area.
July 2023 – February 2024: Crews began work in downtown Richmond. So far, they have inspected and upgraded more than a mile of equipment. This includes installing power lines and more than 60 utility poles and attached equipment.
We will continue work in downtown Richmond through the beginning of 2024 and expect to upgrade more than 2.5 miles of overhead infrastructure, including installing around 100 poles, in the area.
January 2024: Crews started clearing the land for the new electric station. Soon we will begin bringing in equipment and starting below-ground work. The electric station construction will continue throughout 2024.
UPCOMING WORK
After we complete the current work in downtown Richmond, we will move to the next segment of the project, which will take place south of 32 Mile Road. The entire project is expected to be completed in 2026. Throughout the project, there may be partial road closures or short outages to safely complete the work. We will notify customers if work in this area affects them.
Upgrading existing infrastructure is just one part of our four-point plan to improve reliability, which also includes trimming trees, rebuilding older sections of the grid and accelerating our transition to a smart grid. To stay up to date on how we’re executing our four-point plan in your neighborhood, visit empoweringmichigan.com/reliability-improvements.