Major projects scheduled for 2018 include transmission enhancements to reinforce the system and support economic growth, constructing new distribution circuits, and inspecting and replacing utility poles and underground cables.
FirstEnergy Corp. expects to invest about $156 million in 2018 on distribution and transmission infrastructure projects to help enhance service reliability for its customers in Potomac Edison's service area in western Maryland and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
Major projects scheduled for 2018 include transmission enhancements to reinforce the system and support economic growth, constructing new distribution circuits, and inspecting and replacing utility poles and underground cables.
“These infrastructure enhancements are necessary to serve the influx of new residents and businesses to our Potomac Edison service territory,” said James A. Sears Jr., vice president of Potomac Edison. “At the same time, we also are working on projects designed to help enhance the day-to-day service we provide our customers, such as replacing older underground cables and improving existing overhead facilities.”
FirstEnergy projects planned in the Potomac Edison footprint in 2018 include:
- Ongoing work to provide electrical service to the new Procter & Gamble consumer products manufacturing plant under construction in Berkeley County near Martinsburg, W.Va. The project includes a new distribution substation, upgrades to other nearby substations, and several power lines. About $4 million is expected to be spent on work this year, with the project scheduled for completion by year end.
- Building a distribution substation in the Foxville area in Frederick County, Md., and constructing 5 mi. of new distribution circuit that will enhance electric service reliability for about 1,200 customers in the Myersville and Wolfsville areas. Construction on the $4 million project began in January, and should be completed by the end of the year.
- Constructing a new $3 million distribution substation for the Jefferson Tech Park near Frederick, Md., to provide electric service capacity for more than 2 million sq. ft. of commercial development. Work is expected to start in 2018 and be completed by the end of 2019.
- Building a new $2 million distribution substation in Montgomery County to serve residential and retail customers in the new Cabin Branch development in Clarksburg, Md. The substation will provide needed service capacity for about 3,500 homes and 1.4 million sq. ft. of retail space. The work is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2018 and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
- Completing a $1 million project to install a new transformer at a substation in Moorefield, W.Va. to provide redundancy for the existing equipment.
- Installing additional switches and equipment in a substation in the Yellow Springs, Md. area of Frederick County at a cost of about $1 million to improve reliability for 4,400 customers in the area.
- Finishing work on a new $5 million power line and substation project under construction in Hardy County, W.Va., along State Route 259 that will enhance service reliability for about 2,200 customers in the Baker and Mathias areas. The project divides a 270-mi. long circuit — the longest in Potomac Edison's service area — into three shorter segments and improves service to a nearby compressor station for a major natural gas supply pipeline.
- Upgrading equipment on 269 distribution circuits throughout Potomac Edison's service area at an estimated cost of about $3.3 million. The enhancements — installing new wire, cable and fuses — are expected to reinforce the electrical system and enhance reliability for about 402,000 customers in Maryland and West Virginia.
- Replacing underground distribution cables with new equipment. Work totaling about $4 million is continuing in all areas of the service territory, with a focus in Frederick, Montgomery and Washington counties in Maryland. Crews are working now in downtown Frederick to replace sections of underground main line cable at a cost of more than $150,000. The downtown cable-replacement project is expected to be completed by September, and enhance electric service reliability for the downtown area.
About $8 million of the budgeted total will be for transmission-related projects owned by the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line Company (TrAILCo), a FirstEnergy transmission affiliate.
In 2017, FirstEnergy spent about $114 million in the Potomac Edison area on hundreds of large and small transmission and distribution projects.
For more information, visit potomacedison.com and firstenergycorp.com.
Today's top stories
