Versant Power Upgrades a UMaine Substation Ahead of Fall Semester

(Above: Versant Power's Steam Plant substation at the University of Maine campus in Orono)

Orono, ME – This summer, Versant Power updated equipment at the University of Maine’s Steam Plant substation. Improvements will increase service reliability to the Steam Plant, which provides heating to 90% of campus, as well as the Alfond Arena, Hotel Ursa, and other campus buildings. 

Crews replaced substation equipment reaching the end of its useful life with more modern and resilient options, including a new transformer, switchgear and insulators. The substation was also equipped with new metering, which will give the University more information when there is an outage, shorten outage duration, and provide them with helpful data about their electricity usage.

“Upgrades like this are needed to update aging infrastructure as well as increase capacity for campus growth,” said Blaine Williams, UMaine’s facilities director. “They will be needed for future electrification efforts required to achieve climate change goals, such as adding more car chargers and heat pumps on campus.”

Versant worked closely with Williams to minimize disruptions to campus life while the project took place. In addition, the substation was connected to a mobile substation while crews replaced aging equipment to keep the impact to campus low.

“It was important for us to get this work complete before the start of the fall semester,” said Versant’s Power Systems Technical Supervisor Kevin Worster. “This work will improve service reliability to students, employees, and anyone who visits the UMaine Orono campus.”

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(Above: A mobile substation was connected to the Steam Plant substation this summer to allow Versant to make upgrades to existing electrical gear that was beyond its useful life.)