FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Company (FE PA), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy named West Penn Power in western Pennsylvania, has upgraded its electric system in eastern Westmoreland County to help prevent service disruptions, support voltage and accommodate growth.
The work was focused on rebuilding part of an existing power line with larger diameter wire capable of carrying more electricity, enabling customers to deal with winter and summer seasons.
"We reconstructed part of a line parallelling Unity Street with new utility poles, wires, crossarms and other equipment to enhance electric service for more than 500 customers in Unity Township,” said John Hawkins, FirstEnergy President, Pennsylvania. “This investment will help support voltage levels on our system to benefit existing customers and position the local grid to meet increased electrical load in a rural area poised for growth."
West Penn Power crews based in Latrobe have completed work on a 2-mile section of the 12 kV distribution line running along Unity Street-Unity Cemetery Road from Garfield Road to Auction Barn Road.
The project included:
- Installing larger diameter wire capable of transporting more electricity to meet the area's increasing electrical demand and support voltage levels for existing customers.
- Replacing 15 utility poles, 70 crossarms and other hardware with new equipment.
- Replacing 200 aging insulators and a number of fuses.
The increased capacity of the rebuilt line will help serve customers in the Wimmerton housing plan when scheduled maintenance or other issues affect the normal lines. System operators will be able to temporarily provide power to the customers from the rebuilt line.
The project is part of FE PA's Long Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan (LTIIP), an initiative to accelerate capital investments in the electric distribution system serving West Penn Power and other service areas for continued electric service reliability for customers. LTIIP is part of Energize365.
