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Power line proposed for region
March 29, 2006
 By Douglas Cunningham
Times Herald-Record

An Albany company yesterday proposed a 200-mile high-voltage power line that will traverse most of Orange County and the western edge of Sullivan County as it brings electricity from Utica to the lower Hudson Valley.

The proposed line of 1,200 megawatts would be large enough to supply power to some 1.2 million homes. The company, New York Regional Interconnect Inc., outlined its plans for a “high-voltage direct current” transmission line yesterday afternoon, and said the project would cost more than $1 billion.

The proposed line, in most cases, would follow rights of way obtained along railroad tracks, in this area the Norfolk Southern tracks, which also carry the Port Jervis line of the Metro-North Railroad through Orange County. The transmission line would terminate in Rock Tavern, at a power substation owned by Central Hudson Gas & Electric.

Power transmission lines are a weak point in the nation’s electrical supply; in times of peak demand, there sometimes is not enough capacity to bring adequate power from generating plants to the areas that need it.

In addition, the places where demand is increasing, such as the New York City metro area, face other constraints on the siting of both power plants and power lines. Too, the electrical system has been fragmented by deregulation, with local utilities like Central Hudson or Orange and Rockland now buying their power on the open market. In New York, that’s run by the New York Independent System Operator, or NYISO, which operates the high-voltage grid as well as the wholesale power market.

The project requires approval from the Public Service Commission as to the siting. A formal application will be made this spring.

Ken Klapp, a spokesman for the NYISO, said the NYISO will require an impact study, as it would with any similar line or new plant, of how it will affect the existing system.

“The high-growth areas are the southeastern portions of the state, the lower Hudson Valley, New York City and Long Island,” he said of power demand.

John Maserjian, a Central Hudson spokesman, said the utility would work under the direction of the NYISO in making any connection to the Rock Tavern substation.

It was unclear yesterday whether the project would generate public opposition or other concerns. Orange County had not been notified of the plans for a new line, said director of operations Steve Gross, but will carefully monitor the project.