An empty lot at the corner of Northwest Boulevard and Patterson Avenue could be the future home of a Duke Energy facility, according to zoning records from the city of Winston-Salem. A substation is an energy grid responsible for splitting voltage to buildings in the surrounding area. Duke Energy’s July proposal to the city planning board shows a 10-foot brick wall surrounding the property, which is an improvement over typical substations.Lifelong resident Chenita Johnson said the empty lot was once home to a gas station and grocery market years ago. She’s worried the substation could affect the bus stop and route that neighbors depend on and wonders if there will be health impacts.”We don’t know what health hazards there are,” she said. “It would be wonderful to know it will be wonderful for Duke Energy to, at least, give us something to help us to understand how this will be better for our neighborhood.”A representative from Duke Energy sent WXII a statement about the substation plans and how they decided to put it there. They said it is meant to continue electricity to fill the need for more power.”You can think of transmission lines as the interstate/freeways of the power grid,” said Jeff Brooks, with Duke Energy. “Just as you can’t immediately go from a 70 mph interstate to a 45 mph road without slowing down, the substation is like an offramp on the energy system, lowering voltage so that it can be distributed on main distribution lines (think main boulevards). Eventually, it gets to your neighborhood where the voltage is reduced again (using transformers – the white can-shaped structures on poles) and then is carried on smaller lines through neighborhoods to your home.”Brooks said the substation would likely be 12 feet tall, with power lines exiting the property, and the surrounding fence would be 10 feet tall. In the meeting with community members, Duke Energy representative Jimmy Flythe said construction of the substation could go through 2026. He also said the electromagnetic fields emitted from the site would be buffered through the space of the fence, but residents said they were not convinced.
An empty lot at the corner of Northwest Boulevard and Patterson Avenue could be the future home of a Duke Energy facility, according to zoning records from the city of Winston-Salem.
A substation is an energy grid responsible for splitting voltage to buildings in the surrounding area. Duke Energy’s July proposal to the city planning board shows a 10-foot brick wall surrounding the property, which is an improvement over typical substations.
Lifelong resident Chenita Johnson said the empty lot was once home to a gas station and grocery market years ago. She’s worried the substation could affect the bus stop and route that neighbors depend on and wonders if there will be health impacts.
“We don’t know what health hazards there are,” she said. “It would be wonderful to know it will be wonderful for Duke Energy to, at least, give us something to help us to understand how this will be better for our neighborhood.”
A representative from Duke Energy sent WXII a statement about the substation plans and how they decided to put it there. They said it is meant to continue electricity to fill the need for more power.
“You can think of transmission lines as the interstate/freeways of the power grid,” said Jeff Brooks, with Duke Energy. “Just as you can’t immediately go from a 70 mph interstate to a 45 mph road without slowing down, the substation is like an offramp on the energy system, lowering voltage so that it can be distributed on main distribution lines (think main boulevards). Eventually, it gets to your neighborhood where the voltage is reduced again (using transformers – the white can-shaped structures on poles) and then is carried on smaller lines through neighborhoods to your home.”
Brooks said the substation would likely be 12 feet tall, with power lines exiting the property, and the surrounding fence would be 10 feet tall.
In the meeting with community members, Duke Energy representative Jimmy Flythe said construction of the substation could go through 2026. He also said the electromagnetic fields emitted from the site would be buffered through the space of the fence, but residents said they were not convinced.