National Grid is proposing two significant electricity transmission-line projects that would run through several Rhode Island cities and towns and would lower the risk of blackouts during the hottest days of summer.
The projects, which would install new interstate, high-voltage transmission lines that act as the backbone of the regional grid, would be the first upgrade to many of those lines since they were installed in the 1960s and early 1970s, said David Beron, a project manager for National Grid.
Electricity supply in Rhode Island and throughout New England has become less reliable in recent years because of rapid population growth and increased energy usage that has taxed the electricity system. Demand for electricity in Rhode Island has almost doubled since 1980, said Ron Gillooly, National Grid’s community relations manager for the project.
“We’ve had a substantial increase in residential air-conditioning use, as well as in other home appliances over the course of the last decade and even longer,” he said. “So that has really affected the summer peak demand.”
The projects involve adding additional 345-kilovolt lines that will run through the company’s existing right-of-way corridors in the central and northern sections of the state. National Grid said it anticipates no interruptions to the local transmission system.
One project will install a second 345-kilovolt transmission line running from the West Farnum power substation in North Smithfield to the Kent County substation in Warwick. The lines would travel in the vicinity of Route 295 through Johnston, Cranston and West Warwick.
The project will also install a new transformer in the Kent County substation to handle the increased electricity load.
The second project will install a new, 345 kilovolt connection from a power substation in Millbury, Mass. to North Smithfield, traveling in the vicinity of Route 146. It will then travel west to a power substation in Connecticut. National Grid’s responsibility for the project will end at the state border in Burrillville.
National Grid’s first estimate of the cost of both projects is about $550 million, but Beron said he expects that price tag to increase along with the rapidly rising price of copper, aluminum and other raw materials – partly a result of demand created by other grid improvement projects occurring across the nation.
Many parts of the country – especially regions that are experiencing rapid growth – are contending with similar electricity constraint and reliability issues, he said.
“My expectation is that the cost estimate will go up a little bit,” Beron said. “It’s really a nationwide phenomenon. There are some real big projects out there, and we’re all sort of competing for those resources.”
National Grid is seeking to have the cost of the projects shared by electricity customers across New England, because it is a regional project designed to improve the reliability of electricity supply in all of southern New England, Beron said.
He said the cost of the projects to ratepayers would equal “fractions of pennies on the dollar.”
The utility company is already conducting preliminary engineering for the projects, and plans to begin the lengthy state and federal licensing process in June or July. Construction is slated to begin in 2010 and finish by 2013.
National Grid is also engaging in an aggressive community outreach effort to inform communities impacted by the projects and solicit feedback, Gillooly said.
The projects in Rhode Island are two of four transmission line upgrade projects planned in southern New England. Two other projects will install new, high-voltage power lines in the Springfield, Mass. area and in central Connecticut.
The need for upgrades and their routes were identified in a study of the regional grid by ISO New England Inc., the independent, nonprofit organization that plans and operates New England’s bulk electric system, and administers its wholesale electricity markets.
The four projects are designed to bolster the grid in Rhode Island and the Springfield area, and ease constraints on the grid that limit the transfer of power east and west within Massachusetts and Connecticut, and south across the Massachusetts border, Beron said.
“It’s really a result of load growth, and not just in Rhode Island, really in the region,” he said. “These are the lines that transmit power directly from generating stations, and are the backbone of the region’s power grid.” •
