A look at Oak Ridge’s power future: Increased electrical capacity, smart meters, solar farm

A charging station with two fast chargers for drivers of electric vehicles in Oak Ridge. Smart meters and a new “control center” that will give a real-time view of the city’s “smart” electric grid (called a supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA, system). And by the end of the decade, a new solar farm on the hill within the Y-12 National Security Complex where the old water treatment plant is finishing out the last year of its operating life.

But the chief goals of Dave Cross, director of the city of Oak Ridge Electric Department (CORED) since December 2023, are the modernization and expansion of the city’s aging electricity delivery infrastructure. Such an upgrade is needed because of anticipated growth in new electric load, including new nuclear facilities and other new businesses in Oak Ridge. He spoke about this subject to members of the city’s Environmental Quality Advisory Board (EQAB) at their May meeting.

Cross previously worked for Plateau Electric Cooperative, which provides the power needed by Morgan and Scott counties. He served as the cooperative’s director of finance and accounting starting in 1986 and then as its CEO for the last 15 years of his 37-year career there.

Cross said he has had a good relationship over many years with officials at the Tennessee Valley Authority, which produces electricity and transmits it to power distributors such as the city. He noted that TVA is planning to expand its energy sources for generating electricity because of the expected growth in demand for power.

On June 13, The Oak Ridger reported that electric bills for Oak Ridge residents and business owners, which increased 2% last year, will rise by another 2.75% this October. Lauren Gray, city spokesperson, said the average residential customer will see a monthly increase of $3.50.

In a City Council meeting item memo in June, Cross wrote that the rate increase is expected to generate an additional $1.6 million a year for the city and CORED. In a recent email, he noted that he has emphasized to City Council that CORED constantly compares the city’s electric rates with those of neighboring utilities and “will work hard to remain rate-competitive with them.”

At the EQAB meeting on May 1, members learned the city will be replacing aged wooden poles, old copper conductor (overhead wires that date back to the 1940s) and substation…