East Norwalk Taxing District Awaits Approval For Electricity Sub-Station

Certain that demand for electricity in its service area will jump sharply in the next few years, the Third Taxing District’s Electric Department is seeking state approval to build a sub-station on Fitch Street that will be fed by a high-voltage transmission line suspended over the East Norwalk train station.

“It’s in the right place (and) is for the good of the people of East Norwalk,” said George E. Leary, general manager of the Electric Department, on Wednesday.

Leary said tapping into the transmission line – which carries electricity at 115,000 volts – will provide a more reliable supply of electricity from Connecticut Light & Power than the two underground cables the department currently uses for this purpose. As important, he said, the new high-voltage connection will enable the department to meet the needs of a data center to be built in Norden Park and the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which is undergoing a major expansion.

The Electric Department, which provides electric service to all of East Norwalk as a publicly-owned utility, plans to build the new sub-station at 6 Fitch St., adjacent to the sub-station it already operates just west of that location. It will be supplied by an overhead CL&P transmission line that runs parallel to the north side of Metro-North Railroad’s New Haven Line right-of-way. Two towers – called monopoles – will be installed in the East Norwalk train station’s parking lot to drop a cable from the transmission line to the new sub-station.

To obtain space for the sub-station, the Third Taxing District bought a dilapidated house at 6 Fitch St. in 2010 for $1 million, Leary said, that sat on a little over one-half acre of land. The house was demolished.

The sub-station’s closest neighbors will be a car repair shop on its east border, an electrical contractor on its west border, and the East Norwalk train station to the south. The parking lot of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish is across the street. The city requires the department to screen the facility with landscaping.

Leary said the sub-station will be a tight fit, but the property is the most suitable location for it the department owns. The department also operates a sub-station on Rowan Street, which, he said, has no room for expansion.

The data center will be built by Cervalis, a company headquartered in Shelton that already operates a data center in Stamford. It will be filled with computer servers that require a lot of air conditioning, so the facility will need 16 megawatts of electricity, Leary said.

Meantime, the wastewater plant on South Smith Street will require an estimated additional four megawatts of electricity when its addition comes on-line, Leary said.

The Third Taxing District's Electric Department currently receives power at 26,700 volts from two underground cables that start at CL&P’s sub-station on New Canaan Avenue and run beneath East Avenue. They are more than 60 years old and their dependability is questionable, Leary said.

The department has obtained all local permits needed to begin construction of the sub-station and only awaits approval from the state’s Siting Council. The Siting Council has jurisdiction over locating power facilities, transmission lines and other forms of infrastructure, such as cell phone towers.

The department recently filed an application with the council to construct the new sub-station and expects a decision in October. (The application can be viewed on the Siting Council's web site.) As part of its decision-making process, the council must hold a public hearing in Norwalk.

The application says construction is expected to last 12 to 18 months, with six months needed to grade the property and install foundations for equipment, which will include two step-down transformers to convert 115,000 volts of electricity to 27,600 volts.

Leary said his department will hire a “turn-key” company to handle purchasing and installing the equipment for the sub-station, with CL&P responsible for installing the monopoles and the line that connects to the facility.

The department has budgeted $8 million for the project, he said.

East Norwalk residents have been very supportive of the project, as has been CL&P, Leary said. Construction is expected to begin shortly after the department receives an approval from the Siting Council.