Fort McCoy continues working with energy provider to improve electrical grid

Photo By Scott Sturkol | Contractors complete electrical work Oct. 2, 2023, on the cantonment area at Fort McCoy, Wis. Fort McCoy and Xcel Energy are in the process of changing the electrical grid on post from a Delta Electrical System to a Wye Electrical System, Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works officials said. Wye is a three-phase electrical system that uses a wire for each electrical leg and a separate neutral wire. Delta is also a three-phase but uses one of the legs as the neutral, so it only has three wires. (U.S. Army Photo by Scott T. Sturkol, Public Affairs Office, Fort McCoy, Wis.)  

FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, UNITED STATES

10.16.2023

Story by Scott Sturkol                                                                                               

Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office           

Fort McCoy and Xcel Energy are continuing the process of changing the electrical grid on post from a Delta Electrical System to a Wye Electrical System, Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works officials said.

Wye is a three-phase electrical system that uses a wire for each electrical leg and a separate neutral wire.

Delta is also a three-phase but uses one of the legs as the neutral, so it only has three wires. Work will continue throughout the year.

Brandon Gronau with the Fort McCoy Directorate of Public Works Operations and Maintenance Division Energy Branch discussed the ongoing work.

“We — Fort McCoy and Xcel — are in the process of changing from a Delta Electrical System to a Wye Electrical System,” Gronau said in a past news article. “The basics of that is just how the system is wired. Wye is a three-phase electrical system that uses a wire for each electrical leg and a separate neutral wire. Delta is also a three-phase but uses one of the legs as the neutral, so it only has three wires.”

Gronau said Xcel wanted to do this because they are the installation’s electrical privatization contractor, and they own all of the electrical infrastructure on post.

“Delta can be an unreliable system and is outdated,” Gronau said. “We are the only Delta system that Xcel has in the state, so in order to standardize all of their equipment they made the decision to change us over, too.”

Gronau said the change is good for the installation, especially for the future.

“Fort McCoy’s part in this is resiliency,” Gronau said. “Because Xcel is changing everything anyway, we decided that we wanted to move all of our overhead electrical that is inside the cantonment area underground as part of our move to making Fort McCoy more energy resilient. So, it just makes sense to do it all at the same time. We opted to only do the cantonment area, so they were replacing the poles on South Post to upgrade the infrastructure to support the change.”

Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”

Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”

• Date Taken: 10.16.2023
• Date Posted: 10.16.2023 15:03
• Story ID: 455883
• Location: FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US