NEW YORK — The installation of approximately 33 new steel transmission monopoles along a 5-mile stretch completes the first segment of the LS Power Grid New York and NYPA $615m project.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has announced the completion and energization of the first segment of the Central East Energy Connect, which upgrades transmission lines between Marcy in Oneida County and New Scotland in Albany County through the installation of approximately 33 new steel transmission monopoles along a 5-mile stretch in the towns of Princetown and Rotterdam.

The transmission improvement project started construction earlier this year and when finished will upgrade energy transmission capacity along a 93-mile transmission line in the Mohawk Valley and Capital Region. The project, a joint effort by LS Power Grid New York and the New York Power Authority (NYPA), puts New York on track to meet its clean energy goals under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which includes a zero-emissions electricity sector by 2040, 70% renewable energy generation by 2030, and economy-wide carbon neutrality.

The Central East Energy Connect is expected to increase transmission capacity and help deliver energy, including renewable energy, to higher demand areas across the state. In addition, the project will stimulate the local and regional economies by creating and supporting hundreds of clean energy construction jobs.

Construction involves replacing existing lines and wooden poles, some of which are about 60 years old, with stronger steel monopoles in existing utility rights-of-way and building two new substations. In total, the project will remove approximately 1250 aging transmission structures and replace them with approximately 700 monopoles. The work will increase the resilience of the line to extreme weather and support the transmission of clean energy across the state. The project, which is on schedule to be completed in 2023, will have nearly five times the capacity of the existing lines being replaced to meet New York State's energy needs now and into the future.

The new statewide transmission projects together will form New York's Green Energy Superhighway — 250 miles of planned investments that will create opportunities to maximize the use of renewable energy for parts of the state that rely heavily on fossil fuel plants.

Source: T&D World