By Michael Kuser

New York regulators on Thursday agreed to allow the New York Transco consortium of utilities to borrow up to $400 million to upgrade transmission lines running across the state (19-E-0352).

Composed of transmission subsidiaries of Avangrid, Consolidated Edison, National Grid, and Central Hudson Electric and Gas, NY Transco was created to plan, develop and own high-voltage electric transmission facilities in New York. In May, it petitioned the commission to issue up to $400 million in new long-term debt securities to develop and build an electric transmission line referred to as the New York Energy Solutions (NYES) transmission project. Working with National Grid, NY Transco proposed the project through the competitive NYISO Public Policy Transmission Planning process. The project won the endorsement of the ISO’s board in April. (See NYISO Board Selects 2 AC Public Policy Tx Projects.)

The first phase of the project includes a new 54-mile, 345-kV line that begins at a new Knickerbocker switching station in Schodack, Rensselaer County, and ends at the substation in Pleasant Valley, Dutchess County. NY Transco said it expects to submit its siting application to the commission in the near future. The project is slated to be operational by the end of 2023.

“Our energy system needs smart transmission projects to move clean power, lower electricity costs, grow the green economy and reduce emissions,” Public Service Commission Chair John B. Rhodes said. “Improvements such as these will benefit all New Yorkers.”

The upgraded high-voltage transmission lines will reduce grid congestion and allow lower-cost electricity and renewable electricity being produced in upstate New York to flow to millions of downstate customers, the commission said.

PSEG Long Island Project Approved

The commission also granted PSEG Long Island, on behalf of the Long Island Power Authority, authority to build and operate the 7-mile Western Nassau transmission project (Case 17-T-0752).

The entire project will be located underground except for portions located at the East Garden City and Valley Stream substations.

“This process is a reminder of what good negotiation with parties looks like,” Rhodes said. “This is a project that’s going to genuinely provide grid and engineering value to the system, and it comes with appropriate and widely endorsed conditions to accommodate community and environmental needs and health considerations.”

PSEG, the state Department of Public Service, the Department of Environmental Conservation, and the villages of Lynbrook and Rockville Centre all supported the joint proposal.

The project in the town of Hempstead, Nassau County, will cross the villages of Garden City, Malverne and Lynbrook, and will mainly be built within the public roadway rights of way with conventional trenching and, where required, horizontal directional drilling.

The project design standards will comply with storm-hardening requirements to withstand a Category 3 hurricane.