NEW JERSEY – Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) recently completed inspections and projects meant to enhance customer service reliability throughout the 13-county service area for summer. Part of these projects included upgrading transmission and substation equipment, upgrading circuits and trimming trees along power lines.
JCP&L is still performing inspections via helicopter to look for damaged wire, broken cross arms, failed insulators, and other hardware problems not easily detected from the ground. Any issues found will be addressed.
Other inspections on the ground include using “thermovision” cameras to capture infrared images that can detect potential problems and identify hot spots. This allows for repairs to be made before a power outage occurs.
“The heat and humidity of summer weather results in our customers using more air conditioning to stay cool,” said Jim Fakult, president of JCP&L. “By proactively inspecting and maintaining our equipment, we help ensure system reliability to meet this increased electrical load when temperatures climb and customers depend on us to stay comfortable.”
Improvement projects include:
- Replacing 12 – 34.5 kilovolt (kV) circuit breakers at substations in Bridgewater, Milford, Old Bridge, Robbinsville, Summit and Toms River.
- Upgrading 230 kV line relay protection systems at substations in Lakewood and South River.
- Replacing a 230-kV transformer at a substation in Morristown.
- Upgrading a transformer bank to add capacity at a substation in Riverdale.
- Replacing and installing updated equipment along 17 major circuits.
JCP&L has also worked on trimming trees to maintain proper clearances around electrical systems, to help prevent tree-related outages. JCP&L’s tree contractors have trimmed about 1,300 circuit miles of power lines since January and expect to trim another 2,100 miles by year end. Tree work also includes a $3 million effort to remove dead and dying ash trees affected by the Emerald Ash Borer before they can cause damage.
For updated company information, visit the 24/7 Power Center at firstenergycorp.com/outages.
To help stay safe around electrical equipment while on the job, FirstEnergy offers important tips at firstenergycorp.com/contractorsafety.
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