Central Maine Power opened a new switching station at the Rock Row development in Westbrook.
The compact gas-insulated switchgear facility serves to “link” multiple transmission lines together, to provide service continuity during extreme weather events.
Should one line be damaged in a storm, the facility’s smart technology can remotely “move” customers from one line to the other, providing a backup route for power to reach customers.
“This switching station is a major step forward with reliable, modern infrastructure like this that is essential to unlocking economic development in both our city and our state,” Westbrook Mayor David Morse said. “Developers look for strong, dependable power when deciding where to invest, and this project will be a true game changer for Rock Row and the surrounding area.
“Beyond the local impact,” Morse added, “it also strengthens regional reliability, especially during extreme weather events. We’re incredibly excited about what this means for Westbrook’s future.”
Linda Ball, president and CEO of Central Maine Power, commented, “Switching stations are an important 21st-century tool that helps us reduce the length and frequency of outages for customers. That reliability is especially important when those customers provide critical services, such as the healthcare offered at Rock Row.”
The new facility is similar to CMP’s recently built substations in Scarborough and Wilton.
Central Maine Power is a subsidiary of Avangrid Inc. and is Maine’s largest electricity transmission and distribution utility. Based in Augusta, CMP serves nearly 660,000 customers across 346 communities in central and southern Maine.
Avangrid has offices in Maine, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Oregon, with operations across 25 states and $50 billion in assets. Avangrid owns and operates seven electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.4 million customers in New York and New England. Avangrid is a member of the Iberdrola Group, a multinational electric utility company based in Bilbao, Spain.
