EDA aids Dayton with power upgrade

The city of Dayton, Tenn., is getting a federal grant to help fund electric transmission upgrades to provide a second power line to the municipal power utility to ensure redundant power service for the the city’s new 330-acre Rail Hub South industrial park.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration announced Monday it will provide

$1.5 millon to the city of Dayton to help create or retain 1,775 jobs and generate $58 million in private investment.

Nokian Tyres, headquartered in Finland with a North American sales office in Vermont, plans to build a $360 million plant in Dayton to produce 4 million tires a year. The project represents the largest direct foreign investment in Rhea County history.

Dennis Tumlin, executive director for the Rhea County Economic and Tourism Council Inc., said the federal grant will help pay for another substation and power connection to improve power reliability in the event one of the power lines is downed.

“In today’s world, for businesses needing power delivery, having redundant sources of that power is a necessity,” he said.

A similar EDA grant was also awarded to Humboldt, Tenn., for an upgrade in its wastewater treatment plant.

“The Trump Administration is committed to supporting local efforts to expand and attract industrial development,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement Monday.