In order to receive electricity from Cooperative Energy and distribute electricity to Singing River Electric (SRE) members, substations must be in excellent working condition. Preventative maintenance on these complex structures is a must.
Substation Technicians Jerry Furby and Kevin Slay, Co-op Student Clark Rounsaville and a Cooperative Energy representative recently scanned all SRE substations using an infrared camera. Cooperative Energy conducts substation inspections for SRE every summer.
“We do this in the summer when our load is up, and the connections heat up more to show deficiencies in the switches or buswork,” said Slay. “The infrared camera shows problems you can’t see with the eye alone and is a proactive way to help prevent a major outage from happening.”
The infrared camera records temperature. If a piece of the substation shows a higher temperature than normal, it indicates a potential problem. After scanning all substations, Cooperative Energy submits a detailed report to SRE so issues can be addressed prior to an outage.