The Electrification of Detroit

[MikeM]

From a 1928 Detroit Edison employee newsletter:

Detroit's First Incandescent Electric Light Plant

In his research into early Detroit Edison history, J. W. Bishop, Superintendent of Substations, ferreted out the accompanying clipping from the Detroit "Evening News" of Monday, January 29th, 1883. The picture below [not included] shows Metcalf Bros. store, where the first incandescent electric plant in Detroit was installed. Mr. Bishop's data shows that the first electric light plant of any kind in Detroit was an arc lamp outfit brought here by a traveling circus in 1879. The arc lights were a widely advertised feature of the circus program.

The Evening News clipping found by Bishop:

The Edison Electric Light

The introduction of the Edison incandescent light in Detroit was witnessed by a large throng of people on Saturday night at Metcalf Bros. & Co's dry goods store. The "plant" was fully described in Friday's News. On Saturday it was put in operation, and from 5 to 10 p.m. the lights were kept burning. There are 88 lamps on the ground floor, and the scene there was quite brilliant, but there was none of the dazzling light. The lamps at Metcalf's burned steadily and without any perceptible variation or flicker, and the machinery seemed to work to a charm. There are various opinions expressed as to the merits of this light, many pronouncing it a grand success and others being disappointed in not finding it more powerful and brilliant.

President Legett, of the Brush Company, was asked his opinion of the light, and said that it had undergone no change. He did not believe a steady, reliable incandescent light could be produced by direct generation, and he had no doubt that in a few months he would have the pleasure of substituting a Brush storage battery for the Edison plant now in Metcalf Bros. & Co.'s establishment. He had received word that at least one storage battery would be shipped to Detroit by March 1 from Cleveland, and the public would then have a chance to compare the two systems. Since the exhibition given by Professor Brush with this battery in New York, the company at Cleveland has received orders for $280,000 worth of these plants, and this is, to say the least, a strong testimonial of confidence in the system.

[Detroitnerd]

Any decent history of electrification in Detroit wouldn't center solely on the Detroit Edison company. Detroit's Department of Public Lighting was an early pioneer in providing a public counterweight to private power. This dates back to fighting Mayor Hazen Pingree. And DPL, though in a sad state today, was a wonderful system at its height. When the Mistersky power plant was opened in the 1920s, it was a modern miracle, for instance.

[MikeM]

The early history of the electrification of Detroit concentrates on street [[arc) lighting, which was the major use of electricity in the beginning. The task was contracted to a couple of firms before the city decided to take over the duty by forming a public lighting department and building its own infrastructure. Providing practical electric lighting and power to residential and commercial users was quickly consolidated by the Edison franchise in Detroit which went on to dominate the industry in southeastern Michigan.

[Wheels]

100 years of Detroit Electical in this doc.

http://www.iesna-mi.org/DOCUMENTS/pdf_history.pdf

[MikeM]

From the December 1941 issue of the Detroit Edison employee newsletter:

THERE WERE 89 CUSTOMERS. There wasn’t any goodwill. And the peak load was 63 kilowatts, on that night just 55 years ago, when "Station A" brought Detroiters their first Edison service.

Rated capacity of each dynamo was 50 kilowatts, and there were eight dynamos in the new power plant of The Edison Illuminating Company of Detroit, at the corner of Washington and State. The Company had been organized in April, 1886, and was now making its bid for a share of the local electric business. For this was not Detroit’s first electric company.

Detroit’s electrical beginnings date back farther than those of most American communities, for this city had its own electrical genius, Charles J. VanDepoele. Had its people been less skeptical, Detroit might have led the nation in the use of electric street lighting and street cars. As early as 1870, six years before Thomas Edison began working on the electric light, VanDepoele was demonstrating his own electric arc light in Detroit.

During the early seventies he talked of lighting Detroit’s streets electrically, and several times demonstrated that he could do it if given a chance. But he was a voice crying in the wilderness -- so far ahead of his time that people couldn’t take his claims seriously. To the average person, electric lighting was in a class with perpetual motion: It was just plain impossible.

But about 1877 opinion began to change. Inventors in other cities were working on the electric light with some success. And when Thomas Edison, whose other inventions had earned him a reputation for being able to do the impossible, became interested in the electric light, Detroiters paid more attention to VanDepoele’s work. They began to call him "Detroit’s Edison."

He secured financial backing and in 1879 formed the VanDepoele Electric Light Company. The Detroit City Council awarded him a contract for seven lights to be placed near the City Hall and in Grand Circus Park. But the contract was never fulfilled, due to opposition from competitors and politicians. VanDepoele met one disappointment after another. His patterns were stolen, his dynamos sabotaged -- the coils hacked to pieces.

In 1880 he gave up in disgust and moved to Chicago where he met with immediate success. During the eighties he had the satisfaction of seeing a VanDepoele Electric Railway system replace horsecars on the streets of Detroit.

Meanwhile in Cleveland, Charles Brush had perfected an electric arc light. The Brush Electric light Company of Detroit, organized in 1880, offered to provide street lighting using the Brush system. After a few years of promotion, this company sold Detroit on the idea. In 1883 the City had 22 arc lights mounted on high steel towers. More than 300 such towers were built here by two companies competing for the street lighting business. The City wanted competitive bidding, and got it. Competition became so serious that duplicate sets of towers appeared on the same streets.

At first, of course, the electric business was not a public utility. There was a real and growing demand and it looked like a profitable field. "Light" companies sprang up everywhere. In Detroit, during the ten years beginning with 1879, an average of one electric company per year was organized.

First of these to bear the Edison name was the Edison Electric Light Company of Detroit, organized in 1881. It never attempted to serve any customers, but merely sold Edison equipment for isolated lighting.

Up to that time, electric lighting had been confined largely to streets, since the arc light was too bright and flickering a source for use in homes. Edison equipment for isolated lighting brought incandescent lighting into the home. But only the wealthy could afford to own and operate such equipment. So when The Edison Illuminating Company entered the field with the Edison system of central station service, it filled a real need.

The Company had to educate customers in many ways: Some had to learn by experience that it was unwise to put their fingers in the socket. Many persons refused to spend money for wiring until they were sure electric lighting would work. So buildings were wired by the Company without charge for the first two months. And to induce customers to try electric power, the Company for a time furnished motors on a rental basis.

Among the other early Detroit companies was one called the Electrical Accumulator and Lighting Company. It supplied electric lighting from storage batteries which were charged at the plant on Atwater Street and delivered to customers regularly. Used batteries were taken back to the plant for recharging.

Keenest competitors of The Edison Illumating Company were The Detroit Electric Light and Power Company and The Brush Electric Light Company, which later became The Peninsular Electric Light Company.

In 1893 Detroit decided to supply its own electricity for street lighting and a Public Lighting Commission
was appointed. Mr. Alex Dow, who already had earned a wide reputation as an engineer, was brought to Detroit and placed in charge. One of his assistants in the job of designing, building and operating Detroit’s first public lighting plant was Alfred C. Marshall, now President and General Manager of The Detroit Edison Company.

Mr. Dow did such a good job for the City that the Edison Company decided they needed him. In July, 1896, Mr. Dow came to The Edison Illuminating Company as Vice President and General Manager. That date marks the beginning of a period of rapid expansion.

At the turn of the century, industry began to hum in Detroit. Henry Ford had been seen racing through the streets in the gasoline buggy he had built in his spare time while an employe of the Edison Company. Certain business men, perhaps with a vision of the great industrial Detroit of today, realized that there would be an enormous demand here for electric power. So in 1903 The Detroit Edison Company was formed, with enough capital to give Detroit the power facilities it needed. Work began immediately on Delray Power Plant No. 1, big enough to serve the entire city.

Good service and frequent voluntary reductions in rates brought ever wider use of electricity. Today, instead of the one small power plant which brought Edison service to 89 customers in 1886, four modern steam plants and six small water powers serve nearly three-quarters of a million customers. The average price of electricity for domestic use has dropped from about 18 cents a unit in 1886 to about 3 1/4 cents.

Reliable power at attractive rates has been a contributing factor in Detroit’s industrial growth. For electric power made mass production possible. And industries go where they can be certain of a sufficient amount of electrical power to run their factories.

In its present role as a leader in America’s production for defense, the Detroit area has adequate power to meet today's extraordinary demands.

[MikeM]

From the 25th anniversary history of the Detroit Edison Company, 1928:

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM—HISTORY

The oldest part of the present electrical system is the direct current network in downtown Detroit which, as originally built with Edison tube mains underground, went into commission in November 1886. For five years prior thereto, arc lamps of the Brush series system had been operated in Detroit by the Brush Electric Light Company, a predecessor of our own subsidiary The Peninsular Electric Light Company; but no part of the Brush service was continued after 1900, whereas the Edison three-wire direct current service at 120 to 240 volts has continued in use unchanged in essentials, and appears likely to continue. [Direct current service in the downtown business district ended in 1960.]

The Edison generating sets of 1886 were 50-kilowatt bipolar dynamos [[Edison No. 20) belted in pairs to Armington and Sims non-condensing high speed engines, and the neutral wire was earthed. The power plant was on Washington Avenue at the corner of State Street. Most of the power house building is incorporated in our downtown office building now on that site. [Demolished in the early 1970s.]

In 1890 a new Edison network, overhead, was set up to serve a good residential district on either side of Woodward Avenue a mile-and-a-half north of the downtown power house. After the Edison custom of that day a second power house was built on Willis Avenue just west of Woodward Avenue. The small daylight load of this uptown Edison service was at first fed by a small storage battery.

In 1895 the two Edison plants were connected by underground cables, with an automatic booster to compensate for the transmission loss, and the uptown daylight load carried from the downtown plant. In 1899 the two Edison distribution networks were joined.

In 1898 The Peninsular Electric Light Company, which had an alternating current plant on Foundry Street [[now Beecher Avenue), was taken under lease by The Edison Illuminating Company and in 1899 the Foundry Street plant was connected by alternating current cables to the Washington Avenue Edison plant, where a motor-generator set received alternating current and delivered direct current into the Edison mains or vice versa. In 1901 two such reversible sets were installed at Willis Avenue Edison station. In the same year an alternating current power plant located on Woodbridge Street, and recently purchased by The Edison Illuminating Company, was operated in parallel with the Foundry Street plant. It thus appears that so early as 1901, four separated power plants owned by our predecessor companies [[now our subsidiaries) were interconnected by alternating current circuits and habitually operated in parallel.

The alternating current distributing circuits of the earlier days were operated at 1,150 or 2,300 volts and had diverse frequencies. Our 60-cycle standard frequency was adopted in 1898. Our first transmission, which could strictly be described as a transmission, was a 4,600-volt three-phase overhead line built in 1898 to carry current from the Foundry Street plant some four miles to a 300-kilowatt substation at Riopelle and Larned Streets, from which service was given to the Jefferson Avenue residential district. The step-down transformers, three of 100 kilowatts each, had regulating taps and switches.

The beginning of service from Delray Power House No. 1 in 1904 was also the beginning of our present standard 4,800-volt general distribution. That plant generated and sent out its entire output at that voltage, and our large industrial load has been supplied at 4,600 volts [[nominal) from that time onward.

After 1905 the 24,000-volt system, overhead and underground, was rapidly developed. Its permanent beginnings were transmission lines connecting Detroit to the Washtenaw Company properties near Ann Arbor and to the Macomb County properties around Mt. Clemens, which were acquired by us in 1907. The beginning of service from Delray likewise brought about the shutting down of all four of the older steam power plants in the City. The site of each of these is now occupied by a substation.

The Connors Creek Power Plant which went into commission early in 1915 sent out its entire output, from the first, on 24,000-volt underground cables operated in pairs with balanced relay protection. The first five pairs of these cables were of the submarine type laid well below water level through the marsh which then lay between Connors Creek Plant and Jefferson Avenue. This method of operating circuits in balanced pairs has continued to be our standard and is applied to the 120,000-volt lines as well as to the 24,000-volt lines.

Our 4,800-volt lines are straight three-wire three-phase delta circuits, without neutral wire or neutral earth connection. The use of the four-wire three-phase method was very carefully studied in 1903 while Delray Power House No. 1 was being built, and the decision then made in favor of the three-wire "delta" circuit has been justified by the less amount of copper required, the minimum transmission losses, and the simplicity of operation.

The Rowena Street Substation, started in September 1912 with a 500-kilowatt rotary converter unattended, was the forerunner of the widely used automatic converting stations of today. It was designed by our own staff.

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?s...e=100&orient=0

[Bluenote132003]

Great stuff! I wonder if any evidence of the early equipment is still around? Other than Greenfield Village, is anything still in place at any of the substations, or still down in the steam tunnels?

[Detroitnerd]

The early history of the electrification of Detroit concentrates on street [[arc) lighting, which was the major use of electricity in the beginning. The task was contracted to a couple of firms before the city decided to take over the duty by forming a public lighting department and building its own infrastructure. Providing practical electric lighting and power to residential and commercial users was quickly consolidated by the Edison franchise in Detroit which went on to dominate the industry in southeastern Michigan.

Clearly you have a lot of affection for Detroit Edison. I don't begrudge you it. But I wouldn't be so dismissive of DPL. It was a vigorous municipal monopoly in the old days that was resisted by private electrical companies and actually helped keep their pricing in check by providing a public counterweight to their private profits. And it grew with the city, from the 1890s to the 1920s, with the creation of Mistersky, which, if you read the fine print on the agreement between the city and DTE a year or so ago, "eliminates the necessity for Mistersky Power Plant to produce electric power." This is what the private concerns have wanted all along.

From "Municipal Monopolies"

If space permitted, it would be very interesting to describe the efforts of private electric plants, not only in Detroit but elsewhere, to prevent that city from securing even a street-lighting plant in 1894. Only the persistence of the then mayor of Detroit, Hon. H. S. Pingree, secured the present plant, by which, as we have seen, the average price of street-lighting has been reduced one-sixth, and by which an even greater reduction could occur in private lighting, if the plant were allowed to enter that field.

The advantages of public ownership in a well-managed plant, even when there is no apparent reduction in price after all allowance is made for depreciation, interest, etc., were admirably expressed by Mr. Dow in the Western Mectrician [[Feb. 22, 1896), as follows:

"To sum it up : If a municipal plant is operated and managed in good running order, at such a figure as, added to interest, sinking-fund, and lost taxes, will equal the contract cost of lighting, there is a gain to the taxpayers in municipal lighting, directly by reason of ownership of a marketable asset, free from encumbrance at the winding up of the sinking-fund ; and indirectly by the retention of the depreciation fund in the active business of the taxpayers."

... In other words, Detroit may, from a bookkeeping point of view, compute the cost of her lights as about $85 a year, in comparison with about $130 under private ownership, or $162.20 promised on a ten-year contract ; while, looking forward to a time 20 or 30 years hence, when the plant will be entirely paid for from a 6 per cent yearly depreciation fund, so that interest and depreciation will no longer have to be reckoned. The city may also consider the cost not as $85 a year, but as say $65 a year, or whatever the running-expenses and interest may be, and $20 more, which may be kept in the pockets of the taxpayers until needed for-expensive renewals 10 or 20 years hence.

[Wheels]

Solid investment at the time. Edison of Detroit Gold Bond.

Attachment 12553

[EastsideAl]

Of course, some cities, like Wyandotte and Lansing, went a step further and provided ALL power through their publicly owned utility. Which has worked out pretty well over the years for the residents of those towns.

[MikeM]

From an employee newsletter in the 1960s:

[MikeM]

Any information out there about the design and construction of the EHV [[345kv) transmission grid in Southeastern Michigan? I think it was designed in the late 50's and finished in the 70's. Those circuits can be identified by the fact that they have a double conductor phase bundle and are usually hung vertically on transmission structures, allowing for two circuits per tower. A good example is the double row of towers that runs along the utility corridor that runs between Hoover and Schoenherr from about Jewell Rd. and 26 Mile Rd [[the Jewell substation) to the Stephens Substation.

The first indication of the planning of the 345 kV system I’ve found is in Raymond Miller’s 1971 business history of Detroit Edison, “The Force of Energy.” The St. Clair power plant was built in the early to mid-1950s with four generators. When it was decided to add a fifth generator in 1956, the new transmission lines built to serve it were constructed to higher voltage standards than the company’s 120 kV standard. He claims the company decided to move up to 345 kV for its transmission system by the end of 1956. The rest of the 345 kV system history I’ve pieced together from articles in the employee magazine or newsletters, and the company’s annual reports.

On March 1^st, 1966, after a long period of legal conflict with the government, the company was granted permission by the Federal Power Commission to build a third interconnection to Ontario Hydro across the St. Clair River. [[The first two interconnections were completed in 1953: one across the Detroit River and one across the St. Clair River.) This interconnection from the St. Clair plant to the Lambton plant was completed in December, 1966, and built to 345 kV standards but operated at 120 kV until 1968.

This quote from the company’s 1968 annual report says the St. Clair-Lambton interconnection was upgraded to 345 kV in October 1968, the St Clair-Pontiac 345 kV line put in service, and a 345 kV interconnection with Consumers Power completed in December, 1968:

“Commensurate with increased production facilities is the expansion of an electric utility’s transmission system in order to supply tomorrow’s loads. During 1968 progress continued on construction of Detroit Edison’s extra-high-voltage transmission system and interconnections between this system and neighboring electric power systems. The first important milestone in this program was reached in October 1968 with conversion to 345 kilovolts of the interconnection from the St. Clair Power Plant to the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario system, thus establishing operation at 345 kilovolts for the first time in Michigan. In addition, a 345 kilovolt interconnection with Consumers Power Company was placed in service in December. The year 1968 also marked the beginning of the Company’s extensive internal 345 kilovolt transmission system when the new St. Clair Power Plant switchyard and Pontiac Station were energized, together with one transmission circuit between these stations. Transformers were provided at these 345 kilovolt stations to distribute power to the long established 120 kilovolt network.

“During 1969, three additional 345 kilovolt interconnection ties will be established with Consumers Power, one with Toledo Edison Company and one with the Ohio Power Company. These latter two interconnections will tie Detroit Edison to the vast interconnected transmission system network encompassing the major utilities of the nation. At the same time, a double circuit 345 kilovolt interconnection will be completed between Consumers Power Company and the Indiana & Michigan Electric Company. Completion of this extensive interconnection program in 1969 will further improve the overall reliability of your Company’s electric system by providing seven 345 kilovolt interconnections with four neighboring electric power systems. Comprehensive studies were made again in 1968 to assure, as near as humanly possible, that our system will remain intact under the most severe contingencies.”

[MikeM]

This article and pictures are from the January 1969 edition of Synchroscope, the employee magazine:

“Unless the electric energy we produce can be delivered efficiently to our customers it isn’t of much value. And that’s what this story of tower lines and stations is all about. Last fall for the first time we transmitted at 345,000-volts. It’s another giant step forward as we satisfy our customer’s growing appetite for more electricity.

“As many employees know, we are building a 345,000 volt transmission system to provide for the growing demand for electricity, and we are doing it with a reasonable number of transmission lines.

“The power that can be transmitted on a 345,000-volt line is many times that which can be transmitted on the usual 120,000-volt lines our Company has had for many years.

“Our initial building of 345,000-volt lines through 1968 includes lines to connect switching facilities at St. Clair Power Plant, Pontiac Station located just north of the City of Pontiac, and Wayne Station located at Cherry Hill Road in Canton Township west of Detroit. This big tower line job also includes the 345,000-volt ties to Consumers Power and Ontario Hydro for a total of approximately 160 circuit miles of 345,000-volt lines.

“Parts of the 345,000-volt lines were energized last fall and the balance of the new lines are to be in operation before year’s end.

“Three ties to Consumers Power Company will be completed by the end of 1969. In addition, our Detroit Edison will have a tie to the south – to American Electric Power and Toledo Edison operating in 1969.

“All of this takes not only lots of engineering and construction know-how but also lots of money. The estimated investment for the 345,000-volt facilities and associated 120,000-volt facilities in our Detroit and Southeast Michigan service area amounted to $43 million by the end of last year. The total investment for the 345,000-volt system by the end of 1973 will approach $80 million.”

[MikeM]

An article the following month, covering a speech made by the Executive VP for Production, gives some more details:


“Paralleling the expansion of our generating capacity is the major expansion of our transmission and distribution systems. We energized our first 345,000-volt transmission line last October, and by 1975 we will have about 875 circuit miles in service. Basically, what we are setting up is an extra high voltage [[EHV) loop around Detroit. By 1971 the loop will be anchored at both ends by the St. Clair and Monroe power plants. At St. Clair the loop is now interconnected with Ontario Hydro’s system by way of their Lambton plant near Sarnia. From St. Clair and the Pontiac Station, the loop will connect with Consumers Power at the Thetford Station. From Monroe, the EHV lines will lead to the interconnections with Toledo Edison and Ohio Power; and from our Wayne Station, line will lead westward through Consumers Power to connect with electric systems in Indiana and Illinois.

“At a later time, probably not before 1980, we may add a 765,000-volt ring beyond this. Ours is indeed a growth industry and nothing ever stays a certain way for very long. It’s part of the challenge to foresee the future.

“As you will recall, the St. Clair River crossing was constructed in 1966 with 345,000-volt insulation and put in service in December of that year as a 120,000-volt interconnection with Ontario. Last fall the line was converted to 345,000-volt operation and the rating was increased from 187 mva to 600 mva. The towers on each side of the river are 320 feet high and support a span of about half a mile across the river.

“At the Pontiac Station power is stepped down from the 345,000-volt system to the 120,000-volt system to serve loads in fast-growing Oakland County.”




Mention is made of a 765 kV loop; that never came to be but it's now back in the planning stages. Somewhere I've read that parts of the 345 kV system were built to 500 kV or 765 kV standards.

[MikeM]

The 1970 shareholder annual report has this update on the system:

“On June 26, 1970, the first 345 kilovolt interconnection was energized between Detroit Edison and the Toledo Edison Company, and on July 9, 1970, a similar interconnection was completed with the Ohio Power Company. It may be recalled that during 1969 the Michigan Electric Power Pool began interstate operation when a tie was energized between Consumers Power Company and Indiana & Michigan Electric Company. Now the Michigan Electric Power Pool is interconnected on both sides of the State and has, in addition, the high voltage transmission tie lines across the Detroit and St. Clair Rivers to the system of The Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario. One of three lines to Ontario is operated at 345 kilovolts, and the other two are single circuit lines now operating at 120 kilovolts and are to be converted to 230 kilovolts, according to a recent agreement. The joint operating agreements between Detroit Edison and Consumers Power, the energy exchanges of the Michigan Electric Power Pool, the overall system security relationships with the East Central Area Reliability Coordination group – all work together to provide a high degree of service reliability and economy.”

An a brief mention in a 1971 article adds this:

“Load growth studies indicate that we will have to extend our 345,000-volt system into the city of Detroit proper to serve the increasing loads. The first circuit will be 7.3 miles of underground cable from Stephens Station to the new Caniff Station at a cost of about $5 million. Completion is scheduled for 1973.

And the 1972 annual report:

“During 1972, major additions to the Michigan Electric Power Pool 345,000 volt transmission system were completed by building 355 circuit miles in the Consumers Power Company territory from Flint to Kalamazoo via the Grand Rapids area and 305 circuit miles from the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant to the Grand Rapids area. This transmission cost is shared by Detroit Edison and Consumers Power as the lines are needed to serve the pumped storage plant and to provide reliable interconnections between the two systems. Construction work is in progress to increase the Marysville-Sarnia and Detroit-Windsor interconnections with Ontario Hydro to 230,000 volts. Completion is scheduled for Spring 1973.

[MikeM]

In some of my posts above, mention is made of the “usual 120,000-volt lines our company has had for many years.” Prior to Detroit Edison building a 345kV transmission backbone in the late 1960s, it had used a 120 kV loop for the previous forty years [[and still does today) to distribute power from generating plants to substations around the metropolitan area. Posted below is an article from the May, 1924 issue of Synchroscope magazine explaining the company’s rationale for building the 120 kV loop. It’s a good summary of the development of the area’s supply grid before and after the building of the loop.

"System Development and 120,000-Volt Transmission

A. A. Meyer [[Asst. General Superintendent)

May 1924

The 120,000 volt steel tower line, which is being constructed in suburban territory roundabout Detroit, is another long step in the development of the electrical transmission system of the Detroit Edison Company for supplying Detroit and its environs with service. Before saying very much about the 120,000 volt system, and in order to show more clearly the reason for building such high voltage lines, it will be of interest to go back several years and review briefly the development which has taken place in the past in transmitting electrical energy from the power plants to the various substations whence the energy is then distributed to customers.

Let us go back about twenty years, a seemingly short period for those who have watched this development. There were, of course, so-called transmission lines before this time, but for the purpose of the present story we will start with the advent of Delray. It was in 1904 that the Delray plant was put in commission, with an initial installation of one 3,000 kw turbo-generator, and followed soon after by four additional similar sized units. In those early years there were 4,600-volt transmission lines, most of which were underground. These lines extended from Delray Plant No. 1 to stations like Beecher, Elizabeth, Willis, Woodbridge, and old Station “A,” which was in our present Washington office building [Next to the Book-Cadillac; demolished in the mid-1970s]. With increase in load, more lines and more stations were constructed. The bulk of the load was in the present downtown section, with a small factory load on the west side of the city, and within reach of Beecher Substation. Demand for power soon arose in the territory which was at that time in the extreme east of Detroit; and Bellevue Substation came into being. Figure 1 shows the general extent of the 4,600-volt transmission system just prior to 1907.





While Bellevue was originally served by 4,600-volt lines from Woodbridge station, it was too far from Delray to receive any great bulk of power at this voltage. It was then decided to install some step-up transformers and higher voltage cables for transmission to Bellevue. Transformers stepping up from 4,600 volts to 23,000 volts were easily obtained, as such had already been built for a number of years for overhead transmission lines. But cables for underground service at 23,000 volts were only just being made experimentally. Some operating company had to try them; and it happened that we anxious to have the opportunity. We installed some step-up transformers at Delray and a few 23,000-volt cables from there to Bellevue, where step-down transformers were used to lower the voltage again top 4,600 volts for distribution. These high voltage cables were about 7 ½ miles long, made up of varnish cambric insulation and good for carrying about 3,000 kilowatts each.

That was in 1907, and it marked the beginning of our 23,000-volt transmission system. While the 4,600-volt cables, with their limitations, had been very successful, this could not be said of the first 23,000-volt cables. They were an experiment, as stated above, both with the manufacturer and ourselves. It was not long before we had some unfavorable experience to relate to the manufacturer. The cables would not stand up, with voltage only applied, and not carrying load. But, because of the great demand for load, we could not get along without them. We therefore change the transformer connections and operated the cables for a while at 11,000 volts. This was only for a few months, however, at the end of which time we obtained some better cables, which we could operate at 23,000 volts. Reminiscence of our very early experience with 23,000-volt underground cable is interesting, but hardly within the scope of this paper.

In the course of a few years following 1907 many more 23,000-volt cable lines were extended from Delray to other newly constructed substations, such as our present Hazlett, Amsterdam, Cortland, and Grand River substations. The load all over the city continued to increase and, with 23,000-volt cables working satisfactorily, it became a matter of building more stations and installing more cables. No attempt will be made to enumerate all the steps of expansion; suffice to say that extensions had to be made in both line and station capacities almost continually. Delray, in the meantime, had also been expanded in capacity to take care of the ever-increasing demand for power.

It was about 1914 when Delray, carrying about 100,000 kw, reached almost the limit of its expansion. In view of the great development of factories, and the consequent demand for power on the east side, a new generating plant became necessary to take care of the fast-increasing demand. The city of Detroit by this time developed into a territory somewhat semi-circular in shape, with the diameter of its area bordering on the Detroit River. Delray was at the western down-stream end of this diameter. It was necessary, of course, because of the requirement for water for condensing purposes, to select a site for the new power house on the river, and at the other side of the city, to take care of the heavy load on the east side. So at the eastern end of the diameter we find Connors Creek plant. It came into service in 1915, with two initial 20,000 kw units, and none too soon for Delray, because its plant capacity and outgoing cables had been heavily taxed in taking care of the entire load. Connors Creek, a large and most modern plant, permitted the installation of many 23,000-volt cables, and by extending those lines to stations formerly supplied by Delray, as well as to the additional new substations on the east side, a load was very easily found for Connors Creek, thereby greatly relieving Delray.

[[cont'd)

[MikeM]

The work of the next few years following 1915 consisted of expansions in generating equipment, at both Connors Creek and Delray, and increasing the number of outgoing transmission lines. This was necessary because of the ever-increasing load demand. As a result, a heavily interconnected system developed in the city, consisting of two large generating plants, having a combined ultimate capacity of about 300,000 kw, feeding into over 300 miles of 23,000-volt cable. Figure 2 shows the general scheme of this system, but extended to 1924. With their transmission systems so closely interlaced, the load was quite easily divided between the two plants, according to their available generating capacities and their relative economies. This method of operation was all very nice until 1920, when a new problem arose. Our generating plants were getting pretty large, and the numerous 23,000-bvolt cables, which were almost continually being installed, were knitting our transmission system into a large, closely connected system. The oil circuit-breakers on these cables, used for switching on and off large blocks of power, were being jeopardized because of the large amount of generating capacity behind them. This large connected capacity was ever ready to spill over an immense amount of energy if only given a chance at some leak, such as a cable fault. Because of the possible heavy duty on the circuit breakers, it became necessary to partially separate the two generating systems and rearrange the cables so that the two systems might be operated more independently from one another, and under better control. Under the scheme of operation, Delray normally served its particular territory, and Connors Creek took care of the stations within its reach. Either one was ready at any time, through its available ties, to help the other plant in an emergency or other necessity. This change was made in 1920, and while at that time it was considered quite a radical step, the scheme so far has given very satisfactory performance and will undoubtedly be continued. The method of operation and reasons for it are described by the writer in the March [[1920) issue of the Synchroscope.





In the foregoing mention was made of the great development which had taken place in Detroit city proper. Let us turn back a few years, to about 1910, and look at what was going on outside the city proper. When the 23,000-volt cable system came into successful operation, we find that some of the underground cables had been routed to some of the outlying city substations, where they were connected to overhead lines. These overhead lines were extended into suburban territory in various directions to pick up load. About the same time, hydro plants of relatively small capacity were also being developed along the Huron River. These tied into a network over 23,000-volt overhead lines to supply the towns in the immediate territory. In a few years and simultaneously with the development of the hydro territory, there was a general expansion of 23,000-volt lines in all directions in the territory lying around Detroit, all intended to give Edison service to the many suburban towns, some as far away as 70 miles from Detroit. Some were supplied from the hydro plants and some from the Detroit plants. For many years the hydro plants carried all of the load in their immediate territory, but with succeeding years and increasing load, the duty became more difficult.

For a long time the mere existence of a pole lead with copper wires on it was sufficient in suburban territory to serve any bordering town. The service also was satisfactory; at least, according to the standards of those days. But gradually the load on these overhead lines became heavier and required attention; not because the load was threatening to burn up the small wire which were used but because of excessive voltage drop. In the city cable system the case was different; loading caused serious heating and required an increase in copper as well as an in the number of lines. But in suburban territory, distance or length of lines, with the consequent large voltage loss during heavy loading, presented a new problem. This condition was partly met at first and alleviated by means of boosters. This method, however, was not entirely satisfactory. Boosters would compensate for large line losses when the load was heavy, but when the load dropped off, and line loss with it, the boosters continued to boost and made the voltage excessive for the remaining customers.

On account of the great distances in suburban territory, and the relatively large loads to be carried, it became necessary, in 1918, to go to a higher transmission voltage, thereby cutting down the current and consequent voltage drop. At that time it was decided to double the voltage and then only on a few of the important suburban lines carrying large loads to distant points. This was quite easy. Just as in the early days of Delray, when we increased the cable transmission voltage from 4,600 to 23,000 by connecting in step-up and step-down transformers, so in the suburban overhead system we inserted transformers to step-up the voltage. In the latter case the voltage was only doubled because of the voltage limitations on our existing overhead pole lines. We could not at that time afford to build entirely new lines, or we would have adopted a higher voltage; but we could economically rebuild the existing pole lines, including such provisions as wider and safer separation of wires and larger insulators. These changes for 46,000-volt operation were made on the lines supplying Port Huron, Bloomfield, Monroe, and Superior. They served satisfactorily for a short time.

The development in the Port Huron territory continued to threaten in its load demand. Up to 1922 practically all load was served from Detroit. The demand in Detroit proper was also overtaxing the Detroit generating plants, in spite of all increases which had been continually made in plant and line equipment. It was, therefore, deemed advisable to build another generating plant to take care of the Port Huron district. Marysville plant was built and put into commission in October, 1922. Up to the time that Marysville was put in commission, all development and extension of lines and the direction of energy flow had been outward and away from Detroit. The Detroit generating plants had taken care, not only of the immediate Detroit load, but of practically all the distant suburban load as well. When Marysville was put in commission, it was used not only to supply the demand in its own territory, but to feed back toward Detroit and help Detroit with its heavy burden. Lines which had formerly been used to feed out and serve Port Huron were next applied for service in a reverse direction, to feed back into Detroit, in fact, directly into the buses of the Detroit generating plants. Relief provided in this way by Marysville was certainly a savior in the recent demand on the greatly overtaxed Detroit plants. During the past February, with a maximum system peak demand of about 330,000 kilowatts, or almost one-third of a million, all generating plants were working at their ultimate limit and some of them far beyond what they could carry for a very long period. [Today, 2012, any one of the four generators in the company's Monroe power plant has a capacity of 800,000 kw.] It was with close watch and good management and fortunate omission of mishaps, that these plants with their interconnected system, got away with the load during this recent peak demand. With the daylight hours now becoming longer, this heavy burden will probably not be met again until next fall, when more generating capacity will be available.

The demand on the system had reached the limit of expansion of the Detroit plants. The Marysville plant was fully loaded to its present capacity and another plant was needed close to Detroit to help out the Detroit generating plants. It was advisable to go outside of Detroit proper. Trenton Channel, seventeen miles south of the city, was selected for the site of the new plant, which must comply with several important requirements. It should reach over and help out the Detroit system; it should take care of the load demand that is developing in the downriver territory; and, in conjunction with Marysville and with the hydro plants on the Huron River, it should serve the entire suburban demand. The suburban load had by his time grown to such dimension as to become unwieldy for the old 23,000-volt and 46,000-volt lines to handle.

[MikeM]

The suburban system is now to be reinforced by a large transmission “artery” stretching across the territory outside of Detroit and extending from Marysville on the northeast to Trenton Channel on the southwest, a distance of 120 miles. This artery is the new 120,000-volt steel tower line which has lately been making a new sky line around and a short distance outside of Detroit. The route of this high line, and its connections with Marysville and Trenton Channel and the rest of the system, is shown in Fig. 3. From this map it will be seen that starting at Marysville it sweeps down across existing transmission lines, passes through Bloomfield and Superior and ostensibly end at Brownstown, close to Trenton Channel. At Brownstown, however, it branches in several directions, one going to Monroe, another toward Detroit, touching Navarre and West Warren, and a third going to Trenton Channel, where all the energy received at Brownstown will be generated.

The tower line consists of steel towers about 90 feet high, and spaced an average of 800 feet apart. The towers support two transmission lines, each consisting of three stranded copper wires spaced ten feet apart. Each wire is a Number 000 [[about half inch diameter). The tower line is good for transmitting about 60,000 kw load from either end to a midpoint on the high line like Bloomfield.





Transformer stations will be established along this high line or transmission artery at important centers, and the 120,000-volt energy will be stepped down to approximately 23,000 volts for supplying the existing 23,000-volt lines connecting to the same established centers. 23,000-volt lines, formerly drawing their supply from Detroit, or the hydro plants, will then be supplied from a new center on the high line, and in some of these lines the normal direction of energy-flow will be reversed under the new conditions. It should be understood that the 120,000-volt system will be used to supply only the existing 23,000-volt lines, substations, and their extensions, and is not to be tapped at any point to serve customers directly. The 46,000-volt lines referred to early in this paper will gradually be abandoned.

Bloomfield was selected as a step-down station because it supplies large blocks of load close in its vicinity, such as are required by Pontiac, and also because it has always been an important switching center. At the present time, Bloomfield has two banks of transformers, 15,000 kva in each bank, and stepping down from 120,000 to 23,000 volts.

Superior is to be another step-down station on the high line. Superior has, for a long time, been the center of the hydro system and its interconnecting lines, and very logically should become a receiving station to transform and retransmit to the existing lines. Although the hydro plants will be greatly overshadowed by the new supply in the relative amounts of energy delivered, they will undoubtedly be continued in operation for a long time to come, and used to serve the load demand in their immediate vicinity.

Brownstown is another point along the high line at which supply in wholesale is to be taken. Brownstown, however, is a newly established center, and intended not only as a step-down substation to serve the early load requirements in the downriver section, but also to function as a terminus and important switching center for several 120,000-volt lines, besides transforming some of it down for local load distribution.

In Figure 3 there will be noted a 120,000-volt line extending from Brownstown and passing close to Detroit proper. This is for the purpose of helping Detroit, which is in need of relief, as pointed out above. The 120,000-volt line was therefore carried just as close as permissible to the city and connected at two step-down substations to the city system. One of these step-down substations is at Navarre, the other at West Warren. At Navarre, two 30,000 kva banks of transformers, with all necessary switching equipment, will be installed, stepping down from 120,000 volts to 24,000 volts. While some 24,000-volt energy will be distributed by overhead lines to the nearby substations or customers, the bulk of the energy will be carried in underground cables to Oakwood and also to Waterman substation at Delray. The cables to Waterman will constitute a tie between the Trenton Channel, or 120,000-volt transmission system, and the Delray generating system, thereby assisting Delray as well as holding the new generating system in synchronism with the Detroit system.

Like Navarre, West Warren will have a 30,000 kva bank of transformers stepping down to 24,000 volts. Here likewise the 120,000-volt energy will be transformed and redistributed, some to a few overhead lines and the bulk of it to several underground cables. The latter will connect to the city substations, such as Scotten, Grand River, and Amsterdam, which are within easy reach of West Warren substation.

It will be seen that by means of the Navarre and West Warren substations the 120,000-volt system can reach directly into Detroit proper, both at the southwest and northwest corners, and pick off load from the Detroit system. This will provide the much-needed relief for both Delray and Connors Creek. Connections to the Detroit system will require a great amount of cable. Large quantities are on order and within the next few months about 50 miles additional will be put in service to carry energy from the 120,000-volt stations to the city substations. The dotted lines indicated in the left-hand side of Figure 2 show the proposed method of feeding into the city system. Bloomfield, lying north of Detroit, will also be able to reach down and pick up load in the northern and northeastern parts of the city. It is evident that with the 20,000-volt transmission belt close around the city, and with the city growing and expanding into wider territory, the increasing load demand can be readily taken care of from the 120,000-volt system and without further extension of the Detroit system. While the Detroit generating plants will, in due time, also undergo some changes for increased capacity, the general tendency for several years will probably be to shrink the territorial extent of the Detroit plants and let them supply, in accordance with their capacity, the increasing demand close to the plants.

While the facilities will be available for tying the Detroit generating system with the 120,000-volt system at any of the substations, normally the two systems will be tied electrically only through Navarre, and not through any line out of West Warren, Bloomfield, or Superior. Multiple ties between the generating systems here are also avoided, for the same reason as was given above for the partial separation of Delray and Connors Creek generating systems; viz., in order to prevent too large a concentration of generating capacity in one interconnected system.

Part of the new 120,000-volt system, that part between Marysville and Bloomfield, has already been in operation since September, 1923, and has rendered valuable service in assisting Detroit during the heavy demand of the past winter. Early in the summer, the rest of the high line, from Bloomfield to Trenton Channel, and its vicinity, will be ready to serve Superior, Brownstown, Navarre, and West Warren. Monroe will not be ready before late in the present year [1924]. Marysville, with its present 50,000 kilowatt capacity, is located at one end of the high line, and Trenton Channel, with its first installment of 100,000 kilowatt capacity, will be in operation at the other end. Marysville can be expanded to about 130,000 kilowatt capacity, only part of which will be required for local distribution in the Port Huron territory. Trenton Channel is designed for an ultimate capacity of 300,000 kilowatts, all of which can be delivered into the 120,000-volt system. At such time, however, more steel tower lines will be required to transmit the output of the two plants.

The total capacity of all the generating plants combined [[including the Detroit plants) and which will be ready by this coming summer, will be about 450,000 kilowatts, or nearly half a million. A few months later this will be increased by another 50,000 kilowatt unit. Future increase beyond that will depend upon the demand. The present plans contemplate an increase to about 750,000 kilowatts of combined capacity. With the present rate of increase in our total load, this capacity will probably be required in about seven or eight years.

In the foregoing, the writer has attempted to show on broad lines the general development in our generating and transmission system, with the ever-increasing demand for load in the city, as well
as its surrounding territory, and how the new generating plants and the 120,000-volt system, on a very extensive scale, will function in conjunction with the Detroit system to serve not only the city itself, but the entire so-called metropolitan area. Little has been said of the make-up of the new generating plants, and of the electrical equipment of the new high line, and of the new step-down stations. This is to be covered in the Synchroscope at a later date.

[MikeM]

The provision of power to the interurban lines around Detroit helped the Detroit Edison Company grow by providing a large new customer, and by providing an economical reason to stretch transmission lines well outside the city limits, from which it could tap new residential and commercial customers. Here's an article from May, 1924, describing the nature of the new service:

Service For The Detroit United Railways

C. R, Landrigan [[Budget Division)

May, 1924

An interesting item of new business for 1924 is the additional capacity to be furnished for the interurban lines of the Detroit United Railways. Sixteen synchronous converters, each 1,000 kw capacity, will be installed at sixteen different locations on the Port Huron, Flint and Monroe Divisions of the Railway Company, as shown on the accompanying map.

Work was started on these locations last fall and will be finished this year. At each of the stations the converter, switchboard, feeder panels and control apparatus will be housed in a steel building. A concrete mat, constructed outside the building, will support a steel tower bus, transformers and all other outdoor equipment. All buildings, mats, steel towers, etc., will be erected by our own Company. On the Flint and Port Huron Divisions the equipment will be installed by the manufacturers. The equipment for the Monroe Division will be installed by the Detroit Edison Company.

In many cases new transmission lines must be constructed to supply power for these stations; but, wherever possible, existing lines of either the D. U. R. or the Detroit Edison Company will be rebuilt to accommodate the necessary new transmission lines. All necessary direct-current feeders and negatives will be built by the D. U. R.

Energy is to be transmitted at 23,000 volts and stepped down at each station by a bank of three 350-kva single-phase transformers. The converters will transform the alternating current into direct current at approximately 600 volts pressure, in which form it will be delivered to the D. U. R. feeders.

Most of the present street railway converting stations are equipped with manually operated motor-generator sets or converters. The operation of these new stations, however, will be entirely automatic and will therefore require no attendance. When the voltage on any line drops because of an approaching trolley car, the machine feeding that line will automatically be put into operation, and, likewise, as the car leaves the district and the voltage increases because of the consequent loss of load, the converter will automatically be stopped. Aside from the automatic feature, the advantages of installing rotaries rather than motor-generators are, in general, that the rotaries have a higher efficiency, they occupy less floor space, and their initial cost is somewhat less.

The automatic starting equipment is to be operated by small alternating current motors, and starting power is obtained from low voltage taps on the transformers. When the switch is thrown in [[automatically), this low voltage is impressed on the armature of the converter, causing it to start as an induction motor. When the machine comes up to speed, a second switch is automatically thrown in and full voltage supplied. The direct current brushes are then lowered into position, and the machine gradually picks up the load on the line. In case of trouble of any sort on the line, the machine is automatically cut out until the line is again clear. Aside from the elimination of operating charges, the most important feature of these automatic installations is the fact that they are almost entirely free from human error.

He beginning of Detroit Edison service to the various companies now collectively known as the Detroit United Railways dates back about twenty years. The first service was furnished at Delray Power House No. 1, the first machine, a 1,000 kw motor-generator set, going into commission in November, 1904, as a supplement to the power supplied from the railway company’s own power houses. After this initial installation, some additional capacity was installed nearly every year at various locations around the city, until, at the time when the City of Detroit purchased the railway company’s local lines in 1922, the capacity maintained by our Company in Detroit totaled 23,500 kw. This converting capacity, together with 8,500 kw capacity since installed, is expected to remain in service for the Department of Street Railways until the proposed new municipal power plant is completed and ready to take over the load.

The interurban lines of the Detroit United Railways and affiliated companies were entirely supplied by either their own power houses located at Ypsilanti, Monroe, Farmington Junction, Rochester and New Baltimore, until the year 1910. The operation of these plants was very costly, because of old and inefficient equipment. The coal consumption ran all the way from six to twelve pounds of coal per kilowatt hour. Beginning in 1910, the Detroit Edison Company gradually took over the interurban load, until at the present time we are maintaining over 15,000 kw of street railway capacity for this interurban service. The Detroit United Railway plants at Ypsilanti and Farmington Junction have been abandoned; and, as soon as the sixteen new rotaries are ready for service, the three remaining power houses, at Rochester, New Baltimore and Monroe, will also be abandoned. All the energy required by the Detroit United Railway in the Detroit Edison Company’s territory will then be supplied by the Detroit Edison Company.

[Bluenote132003]

Holy Electrifried Crap, MikeM! Cool stuff! The birth of the GRID...

[Detroitgayhistoryguy]

Mike I have a question. I'm researching something. There was a man named Fred W Haines, in the teens he was president of the Regal Motor Car Co. But he also worked for or owned a company named "Standard Electric Co." [[Also, National Heater Co.) I suspect that this Standard Electric Co, may have owned and operated an inter-urban line? The problem is the company's name is so generic. Since you have done so much research on this, I was curious if you could shed any light on this company.

[stromberg2]

If anyone can do it, MikeM can!

Stromberg2

[takascar]

AEP and ITC wrote up a proposal for a 765kv project in Michigan, but the Granholm administration got in a snit because they felt that they were not sufficiently included in the discussions, so they shunned the proposal.

Not sure where it stands right now. A link to the white paper can be found at:

http://oasis.midwestiso.org/document...2006-12-20.pdf

[MikeM]

Last I heard MISO's analysis of the proposal found it to be uneconomical, and I think that was before the recent recession. I don't know where it stands now either.

Mike I have a question. I'm researching something. There was a man named Fred W Haines, in the teens he was president of the Regal Motor Car Co. But he also worked for or owned a company named "Standard Electric Co." [[Also, National Heater Co.) I suspect that this Standard Electric Co, may have owned and operated an inter-urban line? The problem is the company's name is so generic. Since you have done so much research on this, I was curious if you could shed any light on this company.

I'm out of town, so I can't help you right now. Standard Electric doesn't sound familiar, but then I'm not up on my interurban history.