With a pre-application deadline this Wednesday, the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board agreed last week to commit $750,000 to a project to increase the electrical capacity at Horizon Center Business Park if the city gets a matching grant from the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The project, which would add 14 megawatts to the park’s electrical capacity with the potential to add more later, would extend power from a substation on Blair Road in west Oak Ridge to the edge of Lot 5 on the back side of Horizon Center. It would install 13 kilovolt lines on poles that could hold 69 kilovolt lines later.
Although recreational users have had concerns about putting in the above-ground power lines, the road on the north side of the park would remain open, city officials said.
Oak Ridge Electric Director Jack Suggs said a recent study found that putting in electrical lines below ground would cause environmental damage, including to tree roots; cost four to five times as much as installing overhead lines; and limit the city’s flexibility.
Suggs said the city would install the lines, if the project proceeds, and the work could take six months.
Oak Ridge Economic Partnership officials said the grant would require a 50 percent community match, either from the IDB or other funding sources.
The project was endorsed in a special IDB meeting on Tuesday, June 11. There was no opposition, although not all board members were present.
Oak Ridge Economic Partnership President Kim Denton said the city has lost potential prospects at Horizon Center because of a lack of power, as well as the lack of an available building.
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