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NY regulators approve Long Island transmission project, $400M for upstate line

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NY regulators approve Long Island transmission project, $400M for upstate line

New York state regulators have granted permission for PSEG Long Island LLC, acting on behalf of the Long Island Power Authority, to build and operate a 7-mile transmission line in western Nassau County to shore up grid reliability and resiliency. Regulators also approved the financing of up to $400 million in transmission upgrades by New York's major utilities.

The 7-mile transmission project by Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. subsidiary PSEG-LI will consist of a new 138-kV underground line. Once built, it will be the second transmission circuit between the East Garden City substation in Uniondale and the Valley Stream substation in Lynbrook. The project is located wholly within the Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, and will traverse, primarily within the public roadway rights of way, through the Villages of Garden City, Malverne and Lynbrook.

In a separate decision the same day, the New York State Public Service Commission on Sept. 19 approved a plan by New York Transco LLC, a consortium of New York's major, investor-owned utilities, to borrow up to $400 million to upgrade transmission corridors across the state to facilitate the transmission of more renewable-generated electricity.

In 2015, the PSC voted to improve more than 150 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, running west to east and north to south. The aim was to reduce grid congestion, lower costs and unleash the flow of upstate renewable electricity to downstate customers. In response, Transco, made up of in-state affiliates of Consolidated Edison Inc., Avangrid Inc. and Fortis Inc. utility Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp., was formed to plan, develop and own high-voltage electric transmission projects across New York.

In a May 2 petition, Transco sought approval to issue up to $400 million in new long-term debt securities to finance the upgrades, including its New York Energy Solutions transmission project to alleviate north-south transmission constraints. Transco, working with National Grid USA, proposed the project through the New York ISO's competitive Public Policy Transmission Planning Process. The project will replace aging electric infrastructure, improve resiliency and storm hardening and unlock upstate renewable development to meet state environmental goals.

The first phase of the project, as part of the wider transmission system overhaul, includes a new 345-kV transmission line that will run 54 miles from a new Knickerbocker switching station in the Town of Schodack, Rensselaer County, to the existing Pleasant Valley substation in the Town of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County. Transco expects to submit its siting application for the project to the PSC in the near future. The new line is slated to be operational by the end of 2023.