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2018-066 Retired SubstationsDate: May 25, 2018 Report No. 2018-066 pg. 1 INFORMAL STAFF REPORT TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL SUBJECT: Recently, a City Councilmember requested an update regarding old electric substation properties, their status, and potential uses. BACKGROUND: An April 28, 2017 Informal Staff Report (ISR) addressed a similar question. The 2017 ISR remains valid except for the estimated timeframes:  The old Hickory Substation must remain energized and is used to serve residential customers in the Historic District, commercial customers, Texas Health Hospital, and the northern half of the UNT campus. It cannot be remove from service for at least another four to five years until the new Hickory SF6 Gas Insulated (GIS) Substation has been constructed, tested and commissioned.  North Lakes Substation would be on the same timeframe as Hickory Substation, in another four to five years, due to the need to keep in service a 69kV to 138kV Autotransformer that is necessary for reliable and safe interface between the two different transmission voltage levels.  The old Arco Substation site is owned by Texas Municipal Electric (TMPA) and the old substation site is surrounded by Oncor and Atmos Gas facilities. The site is heavily encumbered with above ground utility equipment and utility easements that are being used. TMPA has informally deliberated, possibly considered selling their portion of the land that the City of Denton or other franchised utilities may have an interest in a future procurement.  Currently (as of mid-May 2018) Kings Row Substation is the only substation that is actually out of service. All of the above ground de-energized equipment remains on site. Some of the equipment parts have been used to help supplement repairs of the sister Hickory substation. The old Kings Row and Hickory Substations are considered sister substations since they both utilize similar 1960’s vintage equipment. The old substation site remains one of staging sites on the northeast side of Denton for materials and equipment for the capital improvement program which will continue for the next few years. There are a few options for King’s Row and some factors that will affect the availability of the site: – The old Kings Row substation site is located in the Northeast portion of Denton, the location has been strategically located for staging of electrical materials and equipment related to CIP projects. The DN to AR transmission line construction just concluded this month; therefore, the staging area use need related to substation and transmission CIP projects is diminishing. However, it should be Date: May 25, 2018 Report No. 2018-066 pg. 2 noted that the strategic location of the site could also lend itself for consideration as a possible long term staging or storage area for distribution line items such as fuses, wooden cross arms, insulators, lightning arrestors, etc., that would aid in improving or speeding up outage restoration times in this area of Denton. This nice heavily treed area in Denton has been identified on a heat map that was shown at a recent Council meeting, as an area that has historically experienced its fair share of outages caused by squirrels. Having typically used distribution materials staged in this strategic area where most needed, could be a positive benefit for the adjacent neighborhoods – The site could be cleared by a contractor after it is bid out. It then must be remediated environmentally by another contractor after bidding. In order to make it available for a possible public repurposed use it would be 18-24 months at a cost of approximately $2M. – Another option available would be to have DME use its labor resources to retire the equipment other than the transformers. This has potential for reducing the cost. The environmental remediation and site restoration work would still have to be accomplished after DME has removed equipment from the site. For it to be available for repurposing in a 3 to 5 year timeframe, the overall cost might be reduced as much as half, especially if the work could be sequenced with work in other stations. – With the potential environmental (hydrocarbons) and unknown bidding factors, it is difficult to be more definitive on both cost and time. Work would most likely be disruptive to the neighbors with cranes, large trucks and equipment required over a 6 to 9 month very active timeframe. – The intended end use and any drainage requirements could also have an impact on the cost. – One other item needs mention. The above costs are predicated on the existing precast concrete fence remaining in place. Changes to or replacement of the fence would add cost.  The old Locust Substation site is presently serving a large majority of the downtown customers, including a significant portion of the residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the area such as Acme Brick. Once the transmission line segments on both sides of Locust Substation are fully converted to 138kV and all of the customers have been moved over to the new Locust site, then the old Locust substation site can be de- energized. It should be noted that a major fiber optic hub is being utilized in the brick building at the old Locust Substation site. DISCUSSION: As described on the second and third pages of the previous 2017 ISR, multiple steps are necessary to retire an old unused substation site and to consider possible repurposed uses. The removal of equipment will likely be the least expensive part of the station retirements. It is Date: May 25, 2018 Report No. 2018-066 pg. 3 possible that DME’s substation field personnel can undertake the retirement of the equipment in substations once the ongoing new CIP project work nears completion. Doing it sooner will likely require going out to solicit contractors that specialize in removing old substations in or near energized high voltage environments to ensure that it does not negatively impact the reliability to the citizens in Denton and that it can be performed in the most safe manner possible. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the primary focus to date has been on safely and reliably constructing projects that benefit the citizens of Denton while solving electric system transmission and distribution (T&D) deficiencies and contingencies that have been identified. Staff will keep the Public Utilities Board and City Council updated as timing and opportunities arise to shift resources necessary to fully decommission the old sites and equipment. ATTACHMENT(S): 1. ISR 2017-026 Retired Substations STAFF CONTACT: Brent Heath Executive Manager of Energy Delivery (940) 349-7180 Brent.Heath@cityofdenton.com Date: April 28, 2017 INFORMAL STAFF REPORT TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL CTTR_1F,C'T Report No. 2017-026 Council Member Briggs requested information on a process to review potential land use options for retired electric substation sites. BACKGROUND: At the March 21, 2017 Council meeting, Council Member Briggs requested a work session on determining a process to review old substation sites and possible land use options. DME's Capital Improvement Program has several projects to construct new substations or reconstruct existing substations during the transmission system upgrade from 69kV to 138kV, which began in 2011 and will continue through 2022. DISCUSSION: There are a few potential substation sites where land reuse could occur in the future due to the new construction or reconstruction. Most of these sites are in various stages of the design and construction process, and old sites that have recently been de -energized are still needed operationally and logistically for the staging of equipment and/or back-up operations until the transmission system upgrade project progresses closer to completion. This memo will provide a brief description of potential sites where land may be available for reuse and discuss general steps and guidelines for a process. Potential Sites There are two substation sites that will be newly constructed at a separate location and their respective old substation sites may no longer be necessary to DME. The first site is Kings Row substation Attachment 1). The new Kings Row substation (at the corner of Kings Row and Loop 288) is fully operational and the old site to the west on Kings Row Street was de -energized in late 2016. Although the old site has recently become inactive, a few steps need to take place before it is fully decommissioned, no longer useful, and can be considered for other uses. The old site is an important staging site for materials and equipment for the conversion of the entire transmission system to 138kV, until at least 2-3 years out when the project progresses closer to completion. The second new construction substation where the old site may no longer be necessary is the Hickory substation (Attachment 2). The new Hickory substation was selected to be constructed on a site directly across the street from the existing Hickory substation, across Bonnie Brae Street to the East. This project is in the GIS substation and UG Transmission design phase and the new Hickory Substation will not be online and operational until 2020. In addition to those two new construction sites, there are a few substation sites being reconstructed, which could open partial land segments for repurposing or other landscaping or beautification efforts. However, the exact site design and configuration may not be known until the sites are through the entire process with a plat, design, environmental assessment, land acquisition, permit, and construction. Variables through this process may influence if, and how much land, is available or no longer useful. The following are the potential reconstruction substation sites where partial land may be available: Locust, North Lakes, Arco, Industrial, and Jim Christal (Attachment 3). pg. 1 Date: April 28, 2017 Report No. 2017-026 Steps to Retire a Site and Potential Process for Reuse Although these old substation sites may become inactive, they may be necessary in the interim to serve as a staging area for the system upgrade project, to provide back-up if required, or may contain other equipment owned and operated by TMPA where removal and proper asset retirement must be coordinated. The below description generally outlines a process to decommission a substation site once it is no longer required for electric operations and how the property could be considered for other uses. 1. Sale, Disposal, and Removal of Assets — DME will work with the City's Accounting and Purchasing Department to properly and legally retire and dispose of the older assets that are no longer required nor useful to the City. All of the large and heavy equipment such as Power Transformers, Switchgear, Control Building, and Structural Steel remain on site after a substation is de -energized. Very large and heavy items such as the Power Transformers and Control Buildings are not easily moved, and will go through either an RFP process or Auction process for disposal and removal from this site by the awarded party. 2. Environmental Assessment — When the City purchases or sells property, an environmental assessment must be performed by an independent professional, and staff recommends the same process be undertaken if these sites are to be used for other purposes. Generally, there are two phases to an environmental assessment. The first phase is a preliminary assessment by a qualified individual to analyze historical land use of the property, current use, assessment of what is on the property or around the property, and a number of other factors to make a determination if there is a Recognized Environmental Condition ("REC") indicating the possibility of contamination. If a REC determination is made, there is a second phase to perform sampling and testing. This sampling and testing depends on the RECs, but often includes soil and shallow ground water testing. Samples are sent to a lab to test for contaminants, and the results are compared to either residential or commercial standards depending on the anticipated future land uses. If contaminants are found, a plan is developed to remediate the site to acceptable standards. 3. Potential Uses — Concurrent with the first two steps, staff can perform an analysis of each site looking at its past uses, location, size, configuration, public access, public safety considerations, adjacent and neighboring properties, nearby amenities, and so forth, and provide options for consideration depending upon the features of each site. Generally, staff believes a site could (1) become a public space (such as a park, open space, landscaped area, community garden, or tree stand), (2) be maintained by the City for other operational purposes, or (3) be offered for sale adjacent land owners may have interest). Because of the differences between each site, potential uses could vary; however, most of the sites are small and are more likely to be compatible for an open space, landscaped area, community garden, or tree stand. The analysis and options could be used to then facilitate potential site repurposing discussions and gathering of citizen and neighborhood input and ideas. 4. Citizen and Neighborhood Involvement — After assets are removed and an environmental assessment and remediation (if needed) is completed, staff could facilitate site repurposing discussions for potential uses led by the Community Affairs Division and DME. A similar method to DME's use of public input received through the electric site and route selection processes for the CIP program could be used to gather citizen ideas, through citizen mailings, IVR phone calls, and formally scheduled public Open Houses for each of the surrounding Mai Date: April 28, 2017 Report No. 2017-026 neighborhoods. All citizen input and recommendations could be collected through electronic surveys that would be filled out at each public open house and for several weeks subsequent to each public open house meetings. The citizen survey data could be analyzed to help provide both the Public Utilities Board and the City Council possible ideas and recommendations based upon the most favorable citizen ideas and input. Any options presented would include public input received, actions and funding required (both one-time and ongoing), and review of land use compatibility and zoning regulations. CONCLUSION: DME has primarily focused its resources on safely and reliably completing all of the approved projects included in the substation and transmission line upgrade program, but plans to shift resources as the program progresses to fully decommission the old sites and equipment. Staff respectfully requests to come back to Council within the next 18-24 months to provide an update on DME's CIP program with a status on each of these potential sites and a proposed process including a timeline and resources to review property that will be no longer useful nor necessary for electric operations. ATTACHMENTS: 1. Map of Kings Row substation 2. Map of Hickory substation 3. Map of various reconstruction substations STAFF CONTACT: Phil Williams General Manager Denton Municipal Electric Rhil.williams cTcityofdenton.com 940) 349-8356 Sarah Kuechler Assistant to the City Manager sarah.kuechler&cityofdenton.com 940) 349-8356 pg. 3