Central Hudson, other utilities offer revised plans for power line upgrades in Mid-Hudson region
By William J. Kemble
The four developers competing for state Public Service Commission approval to upgrade the electric transmission grid have submitted revised proposals that include alternatives to adding lines and towers in Greene, Columbia, and Dutchess counties.
Among the filings made on Jan. 7 was one from New York Transco, a consortium of utilities consisting of Central Hudson, National Grid and New York State Electric & Gas.
"The alternatives ... would, for example, simply [enhance] some of the existing lines," Central Hudson spokesman John Maserjian said. "One of the proposals is to remove existing towers instead of [adding] parallel to existing towers ... and replace that single tower with a new tower of the same height that could have two sets of lines."
Maserjian said revisions to the proposal are sensitive to objections from residents to the prospect of additional towers and widening the right-of-way for transmission lines.
"These alternatives are due to address the concerns ... over the development of electric transmission lines in their areas," he said. "The utilities that are members of New York Transco have taken a look at how transmission development can be performed in a way that is compatible with the concerns that they have expressed."
The New York Transco filing asks the state to consider up to nine alternatives for new lines and equipment without expanding the existing corridor or requiring the acquisition of new property.
Public Service Commission officials over the past year have received objections to three proposals that would add a third 345-kilovolt electric power line largely following an existing corridor from Leeds in Greene County through Columbia County and south through the Dutchess County towns of Milan, Clinton, Hyde Park, and Pleasant Valley. A fourth plan would largely use an existing corridor that runs from Hudson to Kingston and then goes south to Ramapo.
The other developers seeking to be granted approval for electric distribution lines are North American Transmission, NextEra and Boundless Energy.
Details of the proposals for North American Transmission and NextEra were not available Friday, as the developers were filing requests to the state Public Service Commission for exemptions from disclosing elements of their plans.
Material filed by Boundless Energy shows a planned route through Greene, Ulster, Orange and Dutchess counties would remain in the company's initial plan but revisions would be made to the technology used for transmission lines.
"Boundless' project does not involve new right-of-way or even new structures, as Boundless proposes to use new, higher-capacity conductors on existing towers to provide significantly increased transmission capability" along the route, Boundless said in its proposal. "This approach promises to yield a high-quality, new facility with minimal environmental disturbance and significant cost savings."