The New York State Public Service Commission approved the joint proposal of Orange and Rockland Utilities, and New York State governing bodies and regulators for undergrounding a portion of a transmission line.
The New York State Departments of Public Service, Environmental Conservation, Transportation, Agriculture and Markets, as well as the County of Rockland and the Town of Clarkstown presented the project with the utility.
The $57.8 million electric transmission project is a new 138 kilovolt underground transmission line, primarily within the public roadway rights-of-way, for a total distance of about five-and-one-half miles between the Burns substation and the West Nyack Substation in the Town of Clarkstown, Rockland County.
“This new transmission project is good news for the region and its customers,” said Commission Chair Rory M. Christian. “It will help improve reliability and reduce the chances of power outages due to an over-stressed electric grid.”
According to the joint proposal, the new power line is needed to relieve potential overloading of O&R’s existing 138 kV overhead Line 702 between its Burns and Oak Street substations.
Recent summer studies indicate that the power flow on the existing line will exceed its capacity if an outage occurs on another 138 kV line serving the region. Additional anticipated loads from proposed data centers in the Orangetown area will increase the potential for overloading under the same contingency.
Should such overloads occur, load transfers to adjacent substations will be needed and, if the overloading persists, load shedding will occur to prevent damage to the existing conductors. Once completed, the project will immediately alleviate loads on the existing line, improving the regional transmission network’s overall resiliency and power source reliability to southern Rockland County, while using existing ROW without visual impacts.
Two public statement hearings were held on May 25, 2022 at the Rockland County Seat, New City, to receive public comment. No party is challenging the joint proposal or the project.
