We Built a New Substation in Schoolcraft

Published on Monday, February 3, 2025 in Electric

Our power supplier, Wolverine Power Cooperative, recently constructed a new substation to serve our Schoolcraft-area electric customers.

The new substation will replace the old one, and the old substation will be decommissioned.

Why Build a New Substation?

Due to normal wear and tear, equipment needs to be replaced regularly.

Our previous substation was built around 1942 and wasn’t built to handle the growth and demand we see today.

How Does This Benefit Customers and MEC?

Even if you maintain equipment as well as MEC does, it develops a higher risk of failure as it ages, just like all machinery. This upgrade modernizes the substation and ensures reliability.

Also, if more people move to the area and need MEC electric service at their homes, the substation will be well-equipped to handle the extra demand.

How Does Wolverine Fit In?

We purchase power that Wolverine generates so we can distribute it to our customers.

As part of this arrangement, Wolverine builds, owns, and maintains all of our future and rebuilt substations. Wolverine also owns many of the substations used by our fellow Michigan electric co-ops. By working with Wolverine, we get access to the wide range of resources they have.

This is the third substation that Wolverine has rebuilt for MEC customers. The previous two are in Cassopolis (at our headquarters) and in Prairie Ronde.

Why Buy Wolverine’s Power?

Our agreement with Wolverine exists because generating electricity requires a lot of resources. It makes more sense for us to buy the power we distribute than it does to generate it ourselves. We simply can’t afford to do it ourselves. Plus, we become part of a stronger network by pooling resources with other electric cooperatives.

What About Outages?

As part of our arrangement with Wolverine, they respond to outages at the substations they own. Our team can, and will, still make repairs as needed but having Wolverine simply means we’ll have more resources when we need them most.

How Long Did Construction Take?

From planning to the end of construction, it takes about 2–3 years to build a new substation.

For the Schoolcraft substation, the construction phase began around February of 2024, and it was energized in October.