PPL Electric Utilities Selects Route For New North Lancaster-Honey Brook Power Line

Oct. 12, 2012
PPL Electric Utilities announced the route for a new 69-kV power line to improve service for customers in southeastern Lancaster County.

PPL Electric Utilities announced the route for a new 69-kV power line to improve service for customers in southeastern Lancaster County. The new 8-mi line will provide an additional source of power to the area to improve reliability and accommodate future growth in electricity demand.

Potential routes for the new $13.6 million North Lancaster-Honey Brook power line were announced early this year and open houses were held in April and August to help gather public input. The line will run south from the utility’s planned North Lancaster substation off Route 625 in Bowmansville to an existing transmission line in the Churchtown area.

“This new power line, coupled with the planned Honey Brook–Twin Valley line and the planned North Lancaster substation, will reinforce the existing network of 69-kV power lines in the region,” said Stephanie Raymond, general manager of Transmission and Substations for PPL Electric Utilities. “These investments are crucial to long-term reliability.”

PPL Electric Utilities will invest more than $50 million in improvements in the Lancaster region this year alone, in addition to the projects listed above. The company’s overall plan is to invest more than $3.6 billion from 2012 through 2016 in improvements across its entire service territory.

“We realize there is no perfect route for a new power line. The route we selected is based on intensive studies of the area and a lot of dialogue with residents and other stakeholders,” Raymond said. “It represents the best balance of a host of factors we’re required to consider.”

Construction is expected to start in summer 2015, with the line becoming operational in summer 2016. Further details can be found at the project website, pplreliablepower.com/lancasterregion.

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