Sparta Mayor Starts Conversation With TVA On Second Substation

What would it take to get a second substation in Sparta?

That is what Mayor Jerry Lowery asked TVA in a meeting last week. Lowery said the city needs to explore a long term plan to create a second power source.

“I asked TVA and said what do we have to do,” Lowery said. “They said it is a long, costly process, and I said let’s start the process. Not that we are spending money right now, but there is a lot of planning. That is just something that we need to look at.”

Utility Manager Belva Bess said the city would have to find available land near TVA’s primary feed. Bess said connecting to the transmission would likely cost one million dollars a mile.

“We have to get pretty well close, but kind of separated,” Bess said. “That’s just an out there cost, but we would have to find the land, the structure and everything that suffices for that.”

Sparta’s sole substation is located near Walmart along Highway 111. If a natural disaster were to hit that area, Lowery said the city would be without power for an extended amount of time.

“This is a long process I am telling you about, but I think we need that long range plan,” Lowery said. “If a tornado or something happens to that substation, Sparta has no power for a while. But if we have another feed point somewhere in a different area, then we can provide power that way.”

Lowery said achieving a new substation would take about 20 to 30 years.