JCP&L’s upgrade investment plan to modernize New Jersey grid
FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) will file a new infrastructure improvement program with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU).
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USA, New Jersey: FirstEnergy Corp. subsidiary Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L) will file a new infrastructure improvement program with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU).
It would strengthen the backbone of its local electric system and provide the foundation for smart grid capabilities in the future. Known as EnergizeNJ, the five-year $935 million proposal includes investments in grid modernization, system resiliency and substation modernization, and is the largest infrastructure upgrade investment in company history.
EnergizeNJ builds upon system enhancements completed since the BPU approved the company’s Reliability Plus plan in 2019. That program has resulted in improved outage restoration times for customers in areas where smart technology was installed and prevented or reduced the length of outages by millions of minutes, cumulatively.
EnergizeNJ could offer more customer benefits through investments that include upgrading more than 600 miles of overhead power lines, replacing about 46 miles of aging underground lines with modern and more protected wiring, upgrading 18 substations to support additional backup power feeds that will help keep the lights on for customers in case of failure and increase overall system capacity, and more. As NJ moves to increase clean energy resources, the upgrades and increased capacity could accommodate the connection of additional resources.
Locations for the EnergizeNJ work are based on a review of historical outage data across JCP&L’s 13-county service area to identify the areas that stand to benefit most from upgraded power lines and new technology. According to the US DOE’s Interruption Cost Estimate tool, the proposal is expected to deliver a $3.08 billion return on investment in electric service reliability benefits to JCP&L customers by helping prevent non-storm-related outages and expediting power restoration during significant storm events.
Source: T&D World