Gulf Power has energized a new substation in Destin to help improve reliability for customers in that area.

The Henderson Park substation, which is next to the Gulf Power office in Destin on Emerald Coast Parkway, became operational last month.

“The new substation will take some of the load from the other two substations in the area and should increase reliability for our customers in the Destin area, especially in times of high demand and reducing outages caused by storms,” said Jeff Rogers, Gulf Power spokesperson. “For example, if a bad storm caused an outage to a certain area that a particular substation serves, we’ll have more options to get the power back on more quickly while our crews work to repair damage.”

Work on the substation began in February and now that construction is complete, the utility is installing landscaping in the next several weeks to beautify the exterior. Rogers said Gulf Power worked with the city of Destin and Henderson Beach State Park to preserve the native vegetation on site.

“Together, we came up with a good plan that would meet the city’s building permit guidelines and also be sensitive to the native vegetation,” Rogers said.

The Henderson Park substation is one of nine new substations Gulf Power has built in the past 10 years to meet customer growth across Northwest Florida. Substations are integral links in the delivery of electricity, serving as major “intersections” along the power grid where voltage is reduced and large amounts of power coming into population centers is divided up among smaller power lines going out to neighborhoods. 

Gulf Power Company is an investor-owned electric utility with all of its common stock owned by Atlanta-based Southern Company. Gulf Power serves more than 430,000 customers in eight counties throughout Northwest Florida. The company’s mission is to safely deliver affordable, reliable and environmentally responsible energy to very satisfied customers in strong communities. Visit online at GulfPower.com or on the company’s Facebook page, “Gulf Power Company.”