On April 7, Wake Electric held an all-day grand opening/open house celebration for its new office building in downtown Wake Forest. The new is building one of the largest recent development projects in downtown Wake Forest.
Co-op members, community leaders, project participants, employees and their families came out for a ribbon cutting and to take tours of the new building and to learn about how technology is changing the utility industry at lighting speed. The four-story building was designed with expansion needs in mind as many areas in Wake Electric’s service territory are booming in growth. Some highlights of the building include:
– The building is 28,000 square feet.
– 3 solar “trees” have been placed around the building (two by the front entrance and one by the back). The trees were built by Spotlight Solar and installed by PowerSecure Solar. Each array is expected to produce enough energy each day to power an electric vehicle for 40 miles. The battery storage systems will direct electricity into the new office building during times of peak demand, like on hot summer afternoons or on cold winter mornings.
– Wake Electric will offer free meeting space and areas of the building for use by area non-profit organizations.
– There are two public charging stations for electric vehicles located at the south-western side of the building.
– The parking lot has LED lighting – Wake Electric will install a control system to operate the lighting including off/on, dimming and usage.
– The new building currently houses the customer call center, customer service operations, and an energy control monitoring center that will serve as a back-up to Wake Electric’s control center located in Youngsville. The energy control center currently monitors 20 substations and 3,000 miles of power lines.