AMARILLO, Texas (June 6, 2019) – Continued residential and commercial development in far southwest Amarillo has prompted an upgrade to a key electrical substation that was completed this week, just ahead of anticipated high summer electricity demand.

The Hillside Substation, located west of Soncy Street and Loop 335 on Hillside Road, was built in 2012 to ease the strain on nearby substations that feed power to a large area. The high pace of growth along the Loop 335 corridor quickly absorbed almost all the capacity at Hillside, leading Xcel Energy to add another transformer that allows for new distribution feeders that will prevent overloaded lines when temperatures soar. Total investment on the additional Hillside transformer was approximately $5.2 million.

“We’re seeing growth all across the city, but nowhere has it grown faster than in southwest Amarillo,” said David Hudson, president, Xcel Energy – Texas. “When substations and lines reach capacity, we tend to see more reliability issues and have fewer options to route power from another direction in the event of damage to these facilities. By expanding the Hillside substation, we can reduce the strain on a wide section of our power grid and keep the power flowing, even on the hottest days.”

The power grid in Amarillo is made up of many substations, transformers, and hundreds of miles of transmission and distribution lines. Transmission lines transport electricity from nearby power plants into the city. Substations transform electricity to lower voltages and send it along distribution lines that are located up and down city streets and alleys. The flow of electric current is measured in amps, which can be likened to the rate of water moving through pipes. Voltage is much like pressure in water pipes, and is what allows amps to flow over power lines.

Increasing voltage, enlarging substation capacity and creating more pathways for electricity to flow are the main thrusts of Xcel Energy’s Amarillo upgrade plans, which have been ongoing for more than seven years and will continue for several more. Last summer, a new substation called Outpost was completed

on Bushland Road south of Interstate 40 that is now the primary power source for Bushland. Earlier this year, Xcel Energy expanded the Soncy Substation at West Interstate 40 and South Coulter Street, and plans two new substations for southwest Amarillo in 2020. Those are the Preston West Substation near

Loop 335 and South Coulter St. and the Western Street Substation at Prairie Avenue and South Western Street.

Hudson pointed out that while southwest Amarillo is the focus of big improvement projects this year and next, a large amount of investment has been under way for more than six years all around the city. Among the completed projects are a voltage upgrade on the transmission system looping around north

and east Amarillo, and a distribution voltage upgrade in the San Jacinto neighborhood in west central Amarillo. Over the next four to five years, other planned improvements include:

  • Voltage conversions in northeast Amarillo that will provide options to reroute power from one neighborhood to the next in the event of overloading or damage from storms.
  • Additional capacity upgrades to existing substations serving east and southeast Amarillo.
  • Relocating and upgrading feeder lines that will allow for the widening of Loop 335 in south Amarillo.
  • A new substation and feeder lines in the Hunsley Hills area in north Canyon to serve recent and planned residential expansion.

The investments are part of the company’s wider initiative to strengthen and modernize electricity generating and delivery systems to enhance economic growth, job creation and quality of life in Texas and New Mexico.

###


About Xcel Energy

Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) provides the energy that powers millions of homes and businesses across eight Western and Midwestern states. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is an industry leader in responsibly reducing carbon emissions and producing and delivering clean energy solutions from a variety of renewable sources at competitive prices. For more information, visit xcelenergy.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.