Sapelo Island

Service Electric crews recently completed a unique distribution project on a remote barrier island on the Atlantic Coast. The island posed logistical challenges unlike those in typical distribution work. With fewer than 50 full-time residents and no connecting roads, all people, supplies, and equipment have to travel to and from the island by boat.

The project focused on replacing and upgrading aging electrical infrastructure to improve reliability and safety for island residents. In the past, storms or outages could leave the island without power for extended periods because the ferry had closed for the day. By modernizing the system, Service Electric helped reduce outage risk and strengthen service for the community.

Getting equipment and materials to the island required barge-style transport, and once on site, crews navigated a mix of paved roads, dirt roads, and narrow paths to complete the work. The scope included setting more than 50 new poles, replacing multiple overhead and underground transformers ranging from 15 kVA single-phase units to a 150 kVA three-phase transformer, installing new transformer pads where needed, and performing other distribution upgrades as required.