FirstEnergy to spend $397m on projects for Ohio Edison service area
FirstEnergy Corp. has plans to invest $397 million in 2018 on distribution and transmission infrastructure projects to help enhance reliability for the more than 1 million customers in the Ohio Edison service territory.
Major projects scheduled in 2018 throughout Ohio Edison’s 34-county area include replacing underground circuits, adding new equipment in substations, rebuilding transmission lines, adding remote control equipment to reduce outage durations, relocating equipment as part of road projects, and inspecting and replacing utility poles.
FirstEnergy projects scheduled in the Ohio Edison footprint in 2018 include:
- Rebuilding or replacing underground electrical equipment as part of a streetscape project along South Main Street in downtown Akron at a cost of about $4.5 million.
- Rebuilding a 69-kilovolt (kV) transmission line in the Ashland area at a cost of $22 million.
- Continuing construction on a new 138-kV transmission line in the Sandusky and Fremont areas. Twelve miles are in Ohio Edison territory and 16 miles are in the Toledo Edison footprint. For 2018, Ohio Edison expects to spend about $15.5 million on this project.
- Reconductoring a 69-kV transmission line in the Marion area at a cost of about $12 million.
- Rebuilding a 138-kV transmission line connecting substations in Seville and Wadsworth at a cost of approximately $7.2 million to enhance system resiliency.
- Expanding a transmission substation in the Hudson area and rebuilding a 69-kV transmission line at a cost of about $6 million.
- Replacing underground electrical circuits at a variety of locations at a cost of approximately $3.6 million.
- Inspecting more than 56,000 utility poles at a cost of about $3.5 million, with nearly 500 expected to be replaced and 1,400 repaired. This inspection process is conducted on a 10-year cycle.
- Replacing circuit breakers, switches and other equipment in multiple substations at a cost of about $4.3 million.
- Expanding a substation in the Delaware area at a cost of $3.5 million to enhance the redundancy of the system.
- Spending approximately $1.2 million repairing underground manholes and vaults in the Akron, Youngstown, Warren and Springfield areas.
- Using a barge to replace a 12.5-kV underwater cable running from Middle Bass Island to North Bass Island at a cost of approximately $1.2 million.
- Replacing a transformer and other equipment at a substation in Marion at a cost of approximately $650,000 to enhance redundancy and reliability.
- Installing remote-control equipment and completing other enhancements on more than 270 circuit locations throughout the Ohio Edison area at an estimated cost of $1.3 million.
More than $237 million of the budgeted total will be spent on transmission-related projects owned by American Transmission Systems, Inc., a FirstEnergy transmission affiliate.
In addition, FirstEnergy Corp. has plans to invest approximately $268 million during 2018 on infrastructure upgrades to enhance service reliability in West Penn Power's 24-county service area.
FirstEnergy projects planned in West Penn Power's service area in 2018 include:
- Building a half-mile transmission line at a cost of about $1.5 million to provide electrical service to a natural gas processing facility under construction in Smith Township, Washington County.
- Completing upgrades in a substation near Slippery Rock in Butler County necessary to interconnect two transmission lines at a cost of about $483,000 in 2018. The substation upgrades are part of the recently completed rebuild of a 7.5-mile transmission line connecting the substation near Slippery Rock to a substation near Grove City in Mercer County, bolstering the regional transmission system and enhancing service reliability for about 25,000 West Penn Power customers. Nearly half of the line is in neighboring Penn Power's service area, and the total project cost is about $15 million.
- Upgrading equipment on 217 distribution circuits throughout the service territory to help enhance service reliability at a cost of about $7.6 million. These improvements – including installing cross arms, hardware, and other equipment – are expected to provide better resiliency for more than 190,000 West Penn Power customers.
- Providing underground electrical service to support the initial phase of a new 2 million square-foot commercial development in South Fayette Township near Interstate 79 and Route 50 in Allegheny County.
- Investing about $35 million on additional construction projects throughout West Penn Power's 24-county service area.
- Investing about $1.1 million on various reliability projects throughout West Penn Power's 24-county service area.
- Installing new switches and automating other equipment throughout the West Penn Power area at a cost of about $4 million to help speed service restoration to customers following a service interruption.
- Upgrading distribution substations across West Penn Power's service area with more than $2.8 million in fault-monitoring equipment to detect and locate problems on lines to help crews more quickly restore power when service is interrupted.
- Inspecting about 62,400 utility poles and replacing or reinforcing about 408 poles at a cost of more than $1.1 million. This inspection process is conducted on a 12-year cycle in Pennsylvania, and replacement work is scheduled to be conducted throughout the year.
- Replacing underground cable throughout the distribution system at a cost of about $425,000. Locations include Quail Acres in Washington County and Saybrook Village in Westmoreland County.
