Sparta Approves Study For Electrical System

Sparta Aldermen approved a $30,000 quote Thursday night for the engineering portion of an electric distribution system study.

Electric Utility Manager Belva Bess told the aldermen the study will help the city prepare for its new transformer. Bess said one major focus of the study is to help reroute electricity for the city’s industrial park.

“When a power flickers on them, it costs these industries a lot,” Bess said. “‘Cause a lot of their, when it goes down all at once it just shuts everything down and a lot of them now are computerized. There’s always damage when that happens and when it surges back in. So that’s why we’re going to try to get them on a dedicated line.”

Bess said the study will map out the entire city’s electrical system and identify where any improvements are necessary. Bess said the study will result in a fifteen-year plan the city can use to manage the system going forward.

“We’re going to get where our greatest feeds are,” Bess said. “They’re going to tell us if any capacitors or anything are needed and to keep our surges and our voltage we have to regulate the voltage going to each one of those lines and stuff.”

Bess said the whole study should take around six months to complete. Bess said the study should not have any impact on the electric system during the process.

“There won’t be any changes on that,” Bess said. “They’re actually just going to tell us when we get, we won’t get the new transformer until 2026, and so we’re just doing this study so we’ll be prepared when it gets here to be able to install it and do the primary lines and everything to it.”