Planned infrastructure investments in 2023
exceeding $3.5 billion to enhance
resiliency and maintain reliability
NEWARK,
N.J., Aug. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Public
Service Electric and Gas, New
Jersey's largest utility, is well prepared to meet customer
demand for safe, reliable electricity for the remainder of summer.
Anticipated peak summer demand is expected to be in mid-August.
August 14 will mark the 20th
anniversary of the 2003 Northeast blackout. The blackout originated
in Ohio, left 50 million people
across the northeast without power and stopped in PSE&G's
service territory. Of the 750,000 PSE&G customers that lost
power that day, nearly three-quarters were back online within five
hours and virtually all had service noon the next day.
Diversification and design protections helped to contain the
outage, and PSE&G personnel safely reenergized the system,
circuit by circuit.
Since the 2003 blackout, PSE&G has spent billions of dollars
to further enhance the reliability and resiliency of its
transmissions and distribution systems with the aim of leaving no
one in the dark.
"PSE&G has a strong track record for providing safe,
reliable utility service and this unprecedented blackout was a
critical point in our industry," said Kim
Hanemann, PSE&G president and chief operating officer.
"Millions of people benefited from changes to federal policy after
the 2003 blackout that enabled additional necessary investment into
the US transmission grid. For PSE&G, it resulted in twenty
years of infrastructure investments designed to create a more
reliable and resilient grid while strengthening New Jersey's critical energy infrastructure
and economy."
This year is no exception. PSE&G's 2023 planned capital
expenditures of more than $3.5
billion is the largest investment plan in the utility's
history.
"Our investments in new infrastructure have helped us remain one
of the nation's most reliable utility companies, bringing
significant benefits to PSE&G customers," said John Latka, PSE&G senior vice president –
electric transmission and distribution. "We have received numerous
reliability awards and just last year for the first time ever, J.D.
Power named PSE&G number one in customer satisfaction for both
Residential Electric and Natural Gas Service in the East among
Large Utilities."
While advances in technology provide critical new tools,
PSE&G's most vital asset is a highly skilled, dedicated and
motivated workforce. Some examples of projects completed this year
that will have a big impact on electric reliability include:
- Newark Switching Station, which is the heart of PSE&G's
Newark transmission/distribution
network, services many critical customers including municipal,
state and federal offices, several event venues, mass transit,
multiple colleges/universities and more. The $350 million Newark Switch Rebuild Project
modernized the aging infrastructure that was put into service in
1957, while also increasing reliability by redistributing crucial
loads to other facilities when needed.
- The $550 million Roseland – Pleasant Valley Project was
completed in May and is one of PSE&G's largest transmission
projects to date. The 51-mile undertaking replaced older
transmission facilities that were, on average, approximately 90
years old.
- Expanding our growing 69kV network statewide. We have completed
a number of substation hardening and transformer replacement
projects to maintain reliability and have completed circuit
upgrades to improve the reliability of 561 distribution circuits
that serve over 1.1 million customers across the state.
"Each year, we strengthen our distribution system so that fewer
customers experience outages and, when they do occur, the duration
is shorter," said Latka. "One major effort this year involved
adding more smart devices across the state to bolster safety,
resiliency and reliability."
Current projects:
Through Dec. 2023, PSE&G is
also implementing a number of significant reliability projects
under its $842 million Energy Strong
II program including:
- Raising and hardening equipment in 16 stations located in flood
zones.
- Upgrading to smart grid technologies to reduce the number of
people impacted by an outage (rerouting electricity quickly around
problems), enable swifter deployment of repair teams and reduce
outage durations.
- Storm hardening of certain circuits to reduce power outages by
adding measures such as upgraded poles and cables that are more
resistant to tree and limb damage.
- Creating an advanced distribution management system to make the
system smarter, improve outage response and upgrade and secure
vital communications networks.
Prepared for Additional Power Demand:
This summer's forecasted peak is 9,904 megawatts. Last year's
peak was 10,147 megawatts, set on August 9,
2022.
PSE&G is prepared to deliver additional power to meet this
summer's peak load, and our utility crews are ready to respond to
service interruptions should they occur.
The utility's rigorous preparedness program for summer includes:
conducting annual hurricane and tropical storm drills; employee
training; developing emergency summer operating plans and
performing summer peak reliability analysis; helicopter and
climbing inspections of transmission circuits; infrared
inspections; audits and inventories; equipment repairs and
replacements; system reinforcements, and transmission line work. We
continually refine our emergency preparedness program to ensure we
maintain the highest possible level of reliability for our
customers.
PSE&G
Public Service Electric & Gas Co. is New Jersey's oldest and largest gas and
electric delivery public utility, as well as one of the nation's
largest utilities. PSE&G is the 2022 Edison Award recipient
from the Edison Electric Institute. PSE&G has won the
ReliabilityOne® Award for superior electric system reliability in
the Mid-Atlantic region for 21 consecutive years. For the second
consecutive year, PSE&G is the recipient of the ENERGY STAR
Partner of the Year award in the Energy Efficiency Program Delivery
category. In addition, J.D. Power named PSE&G number one
in customer satisfaction for both Residential Electric and Natural
Gas Service in the East among Large Utilities.
CONTACTS: Media
Relations Rebecca Mazzarella
908-447-8126
Rebecca.Mazzarella@pseg.com
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SOURCE PSEG