“DUANESBURG — A $750 million power line upgrade being reviewed by the state Public Service Commission will address a known “bottleneck” that is limiting the electric power supply coming into the Capital Region, a project representative said Thursday.
The proposed 93-mile Marcy-to-New Scotland line upgrade would replace aging 230-kilovolt transmission lines with new 345-kv lines that would bring more power into the region from hydro-electric sources north and west of Utica. It would also create capacity for more solar and wind projects, said Casey Carroll of LS Power Grid New York.
“It’s feeding the Capital Region. Right now there’s really a bottleneck. This eliminates that bottleneck and looks to the future, to let more wind and solar to join the grid,” said Carroll, assistant vice-president of LS Power Grid and the project manager.
Carroll was interviewed at Duanesburg Town Hall, where an informational meeting and a PSC public hearing was held as part of PSC review of the application. The PSC held hearings in the western Mohawk Valley earlier this week, and a hearing Wednesday in Fonda. The hearings Thursday in Duanesburg and Guilderland are the last in the current series, but public comment will be taken through April 3.
About 20 people attended the afternoon hearing, most of them people who live or own land close the existing power lines. Only one person made a formal comment to the judge, speaking about electro-magnetic field radiation as a possible cause for cancers. The applicants they their project will meet all state standards to minimize electro-magnetic fields.
The PSC is reviewing the project for a certificate of need and environmental compatibility under Article VII of Public Service Law, which governs major transmission lines. To date, the towns of Rotterdam, Florida and Canajoharie have applied to become intervening parties in the application, which will give them some say during the PSC review.”
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Williams, Stephen. Schenectady Gazette 5 March 2020.
Additional Information:
Master Matter: Case Number 19-T-0549
Contractor: LSPower
Department of Public Service Article vii 7 Transmission Line Upgrades October 9, 2019