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A $1 billion upgrade of Northeast Utilities transmission lines powers upJul 05, 2009 (The Hour - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- NORWALK, Conn. -- A half year after Northeast Utilities Co. threw the power switch to its new electric grid in southwestern Connecticut, the utility company and others are standing back to critique the $1-billion project. Northeast Utilities announced last month that it had received the 2009 Edison Award for the four-phase project, which upgraded transmission lines between Norwalk and Bethel, Norwalk and Middletown, Norwalk and Stamford, and Connecticut and Long Island. The annual award recognizes U.S. and international electric companies for "outstanding leadership, innovation and advancement of the electric industry," according to Edison Electric Institute, an association of shareholder-owned electric companies. Northeast Utilities, based in Hartford, along with American Transmission Co. of Waukesha, Wisc., together received this year's award. "Both of these companies have succeeded in remarkable reliability efforts, as they have each completed extensive transmission projects to improve reliability and operation for their respective service territories," said Thomas R. Kuhn, Edison Electric Institute president. "The need to bring power to customers efficiently continues to be a major concern, and it's critically important to our energy future that this challenge be addressed." The Northeast Utilities project entailed burying an existing 115-kilovolt line and constructing a 345-kilovolt line between Norwalk and Bethel; installing a 345-kilovolt cable and reconstructing existing lines between Norwalk and Middletown; and installing two new underground 115-kilovolt cables between Norwalk and the Glenbrook substation in Stamford. The multi-year project didn't sail through without debate or controversy, particularly in Norwalk, where the transmission lines converged. The project tore up roads and frustrated motorists. Six months after the last segment was energized, road restoration work continues in Norwalk. And the Bethel-Norwalk portion resulted in tall poles being erected in the Silvermine neighborhood. "From a Silvermine perspective, Norwalk got really stuck with the above-ground section, from Wilton south to New Canaan Avenue. They are unsightly and houses adjacent to the power line, quite a number of them are for sale and they're not selling," said Lee Levey, president of the Norwalk Association of Silvermine Homeowners. "The (road)work is nowhere near done and the project has left a scar in Silvermine." Levey calls the new Canaan Avenue substation -- the hub of the improved grid -- "Grand Central Station." The upgrade was done to reduce the possibility of blackouts and to release Northeast Utilities' and its customers from federal congestion charges. To those ends, it has been a success, according to the Connecticut Department of Public Utility Control, which reviewed and approved the four phases of the project. Before the upgrade, rate payers were paying hundreds of millions of dollars a year in federal congestion charges, according to Philip Dukes, DPUC spokesman. "The 'pipes' that were carrying the electricity couldn't handle the load, which was why we were having all these brownouts over Stamford," Dukes said. "This was a wholesale upgrade of essentially the grid's backbone for southwestern Connecticut from 115 kilovolts to 345 kilovolts. My guess is that there are going to be days where there are still congestion problems because of the sheer demand in Fairfield County, but they are going to be far fewer." According to Northeast Utilities, the Bethel-Norwalk line has generated more than $150 million in congestion-related savings. And there's the technology. The Middletown-Norwalk line includes a 24-mile, 345-kilovolt buried, solid-core cable -- the world's longest. The Long Island Sound project buried 11 miles of cable six feet under the sea bed, according to Northeast Utilities. "These southwest Connecticut projects provide a more secure, efficient and sophisticated electric grid, and save our customers millions of dollars in congestion costs," said Northeast Utilities CEO Charles W. Shivery. The power grid upgrade has helped consumers but more needs to be done, according to former Norwalk Mayor Bill Collins, a public power proponent who has been critical of electric companies. He distinguished between the generation and distribution of electricity. While the upgrade improved distribution, problems remain with generation, according to Collins. "I think it was a good project to undertake -- very responsible. While it was naturally annoying, I think the pain was worth it," Collins said. But "turning the generators on, whether it's nuclear up in Millstone, or oil in Milford, or coal in Bridgeport, or hydro(electricity) in Quebec, that's the part that's subject to cartel manipulation. It's where rate payers can get ripped off." To see more of The Hour, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.thehour.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Hour, Norwalk, Conn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |