Following an identified need in SPU’s Long Term Electric Study, SPU’s commission approved the land purchase and construction of our newest substation – West Shakopee Substation. The new site is located just south of 169 on Old Brickyard Road and will support the future and full development of Shakopee, including annexed portions of Jackson Township.
The land was acquired in 2021. Ground was broken and site work began in Fall 2022. The first 28,000 KVA power transformer was put in place in February 2023 following a more than twelve-month lead time. This transformer is to be energized in late 2023 and will serve the equivalent load of approximately 5,000 residential customers under normal conditions, or 10,000 residential customers in emergency conditions. The site allows for a second transformer of the same size to be installed as development in West Shakopee fills in. Currently customers on the west and south sides of our territory are being served by both South Shakopee and Shakopee substations.
West Shakopee Substation will be the 6th substation in SPU’s electric system. We currently have four others (Dean Lake, Pike Lake, Shakopee and South Shakopee), plus SPU-owned distribution circuits within Xcel Energy’s Blue Lake Substation. Between these substations, SPU owns eight power transformers, with the largest being 47,000 KVA located in Dean Lake Substation.
SPU has signed a purchase agreement for land on the east side of Shakopee to someday replace the circuits out of Blue Lake Substation and independently serve the anticipated growth in this area. This will be the home of…East Shakopee Substation.
