FirstEnergy Completes Lakewood Substation Upgrade Early
Image for illustrative purposes.
The Illuminating Company, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., has energized a second transformer at its Lakewood Substation in Ohio, completing the upgrade four months ahead of schedule. The approximately 55-ton unit was delivered from a local service center earlier this month and entered service after installation and testing. The first transformer was energized earlier this year.
Together, the units increase substation capacity and give operators more flexibility to reroute electricity during outages, including support for customers served by neighboring substations. Each transformer represents an investment of approximately $1.85 million, covering equipment, transportation and installation.
“Customers want reliable power and they want to know we're making progress on our commitment to strengthen reliability in Lakewood,” said Torrence Hinton, President of FirstEnergy Ohio.
The project is part of the utility's reliability work, complemented by visual inspections of transformer components and automated thermal imaging to identify potential equipment problems and reduce unplanned outages.
