Bringing Reliable Service to West Michigan
Wednesday afternoon, Steven Gilbert, mayor pro tem for the city of Walker, was joined by President and CEO Garrick Rochow and local dignitaries at the unveiling of a new $9.5 million substation in the city of Walker.
Looking around, Gilbert shook his head, marveling at the fact that where he was standing today was a vacant lot not that long ago.
“This is surreal to see this transform from an empty lot into this,” said Gilbert, who attended the nearby Kenowa Hills High School and now lives up the road from the substation. “It’s a great day for the city of Walker. … We are making progress and with our partnership with Consumers Energy when it comes to providing reliable service to our residents, we will continue to make progress.”
The Hawthrone Substation has the capacity to power up to 32,000 homes. And nearby businesses will also benefit, including a local tool and die shop and an Amazon facility.
This substation, along with hundreds of others across the state, are an instrumental part of our Reliability Roadmap, a blueprint with a long-term goal where no outage affects more than 100,000 customers or lasts more than 24 hours.
“We’re investing $7 billion over the next five years in reliability-related work to prevent outages to make the grid smarter and stronger for the future,” Rochow said.
The Right Place Inc., an economic development organization based in Grand Rapids, supports the substation, with hopes it will help stimulate economic growth in West Michigan.
Randy Thelen, Right Place President and CEO, said substations are the unsung heroes in helping recruit and expand businesses.
“Substations have helped and will continue to help our region grow,” Thelen said. “They are taken for granted and they really shouldn’t be. They help us with economic development and support our businesses as we move forward.”
