An Electrical Substation Never Looked So Beautiful

Electrical substations are usually utilitarian cement outbuildings that seem to repel attention. They stay invisible. Not Sacramento Substation G, a world-class substation funded by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) and activated in 2022. This small, downtown facility serves a vital purpose, supplying as much as 60 megawatts of reliable, cost-effective power to about 1,300 customers—including the state Capitol offices. But thanks to innovative design by Moniz Architecture and dynamic lighting from Color Kinetics, Substation G looks elegant and beautiful, by day and night. In fact, it won the Top Infrastructure Project award from the Sacramento Business Journal in 2022.

The substation’s compact, 1.5-acre site contains an astounding array of high-tech gear, including more than two miles of conduit, many more miles of wiring, gas-insulated switchgears, and four massive electric transformers that step down electricity from 115,000 volts to usable power. While some of this infrastructure resides below-ground vaults or in an adjacent equipment yard, the substation’s public face is its near-cubic, 4,000 square-foot, 50-foot-high control building. Windowless and largely unoccupied—since most monitoring and adjustments are handled remotely—the building features a façade with dozens of textured rectangular concrete panels, which create attractive geometric patterns that capture interest.

By night, the control building comes alive with light, adding a playful element to this developing downtown neighborhood. Its highly textured façade provides an exceptional surface for grazing by Color Kinetics Graze MX4 Powercore – RGBW luminaires. Glowing brightly with saturated colors, the substation looks more like a nightclub, achieving the stated goal of Alicia Moniz, the project architect, that it NOT look like an electrical substation. Graze luminaires highlight the overhanging panels of the façade, transforming their edges into glowing lines and patterns. The lighting system, designed by Sestak Lighting Design, can be programmed to change colors on holidays and other events, including turning purple when the Sacramento Kings basketball team wins.

Designed for reliability and resilience
The substation’s lighting needs to be reliable, resilient, and secure—and well as beautiful. While the patterned exterior is attractive, the facility is extremely resilient, including protective blast walls around the transformers. For protection in an urban area, many of the Graze luminaires are positioned in Color Kinetics inground enclosures, with ground-tested glass covers that protect luminaires from walkover impact and water damage. And the Graze MX4 Powercore – RGBW luminaires also provide brilliant white light when needed, including during emergencies. Easy installation, advanced technology, proven reliability, and remote access all proved to be advantages that led project coordinators to partner with Color Kinetics.

A stunning downtown presence for years to come
“This high-reliability technology of Substation G serves all of our downtown, but it’s also a beautiful structure on top of that,” says Eric Poff, SMUD’s director of substation, telecomm, and metering assets. “The color, design, architecture, and façade—all of the consideration and collaboration that we did really shows.”

And it shows even more at night, when Substation G transcends its utilitarian purpose with vivid dynamic color lighting from Color Kinetics.