Orange-barricaded holes with red casing extending from them seen along several roadways in Ellijay and East Ellijay the past few weeks are part of a continuing Georgia Power project to improve electrical reliability.
The goal of the multiyear, multibillion-dollar Grid Investment Project is to decrease the number and length of power outages experienced by customers, noted Craig Bell, Georgia Power spokesman.
The grid investment work, which has been going on in Gilmer since early this year, continues with key segments of several overhead power lines being moved underground, Bell said.
“This is one of many projects underway around the state to help improve power reliability for customers,” he added.
Routing the overhead lines underground also reduces exposure to trees and severe weather, two factors that cause the most power outages, Bell noted. While a reduction in the number and length of power outages is expected, Georgia Power doesn’t expect outages to be eliminated entirely, he added.
The “undergrounding” work officially started here in June, and several work zones are currently active, Bell noted. Active work zones include Industrial Boulevard, South Main Street, Tails Creek Road, Calvin Jackson Drive and Bobcat Trail.
Undergrounding power lines is expected to continue through November and December. Future work areas include Coosawattee River Resort along Legion Road, Newport Drive and Ogden Drive.
“Looking ahead, (we) anticipate a second undergrounding project for the Ellijay area in early 2022. Georgia Power customers located in the project area will receive mailed postcards ahead of this project kicking off,” Bell said.
Work is also being done to strengthen several overhead power lines in the local project area, Bell noted.
Per Georgia Power, the Grid Investment Project includes strengthening and upgrading overhead lines, installing automated devices to isolate power outages to smaller portions of an affected line, adding connections to provide alternate sources of power during outages and relocating lines in areas that are hard to access.
The completion date for the entire project is April 2023, but construction schedules are subject to change due to weather or other factors, Bell noted.