Palmetto Electric, Dominion update Bluffton council on trimming, upgrades and local projects
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Summary
Utility representatives told Bluffton council their reliability work includes routine tree trimming, hundreds of transformer replacements, expanded broadband partnerships and completion of the Hardeeville–Bluffton transmission line; Palmetto Electric also highlighted a $1.2 million contribution to the Don Ryan Center.
Palmetto Electric Cooperative and Dominion Energy briefed Bluffton Town Council on utility upgrades and local projects on March 10.
Ashley Feaster of Palmetto Electric said the cooperative completed its most recent round of tree trimming in Bluffton last fall and plans the next cycle in about three years. "Regular vegetation management is one of the most important things we can do to help prevent outages and maintain reliability for our members," Feaster said. She told the council the cooperative is prioritizing switchgear upgrades and transformer replacements, noting the company is "replacing about 20 to 30 transformers each week" and has replaced roughly 580 units across the system over the past year and a half.
Feaster also described economic-development support tied to the Don Ryan Center, saying Palmetto Electric provided $1,200,000 toward the facility's landing pad to help attract firms to The Cove. She said Palmetto Electric has partnered with Palmetto Rural Telephone Cooperative on a Palmetto Link fiber program that expanded broadband to rural parts of Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties and is evaluating further extensions into southern Beaufort County.
A Dominion Energy representative reported that the Hardeeville–Bluffton transmission-line project is complete. "I'm happy to report that that project is now complete," the representative said, noting the work used existing right-of-way and replaced wooden poles with galvanized steel to improve resiliency. Dominion also described distribution upgrades, added redundancy for neighborhoods along Buckwalter Parkway and a Bridge Street overhead-to-underground conversion that will require easement acquisition and contractor coordination. The company said its current trimming route through the town is about 43% complete and staff expect to finish the route by the end of April.
Both presenters stressed vegetation management as part of outage prevention and faster restoration after storms. Palmetto Electric also asked council to thank local state representatives who cosponsored legislation (House Bill 5058 and Senate Bill 808) that would create misdemeanor penalties for harassment of disaster-restoration crews and felony penalties for assaults on crews during declared emergencies.
The updates were informational; no formal council action was taken on the utilities' reports at the March 10 meeting.
