NP Utilities installs new substation transformer
New Prague city crews and staff from Vic’s Crane & Heavy Haul Inc., were busy on Monday, June 3, along Columbus Avenue SE. Residents could see the huge crane brought in to lift the old substation transformer out and install a new transformer.
City Utilities General Manager Bruce Reimers said the old transformer was installed in 1975 and has never really been turned off. The new transformer is expected to be up and running within a week. It will take over for the old transformer in providing power for half of the community and exporting energy out onto the transmission grid for Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency.
"This is proactive," said Reimers, adding that crews found that oil tests for the old transformer had started to go bad a year ago. The city ordered the new transformer then since it takes one year to have it ready.
While the new transformer is being hooked up, the city is running power through the....
To see more on this story pick up the June 6, 2019 print edition of The New Prague Times.