At Atlantic City Electric, we care about the communities we serve, and we take seriously our commitment to deliver clean, safe, reliable, and affordable energy for all customers. Every day, work is being performed as part of our strategic effort to modernize and strengthen the local energy grid and better serve our customers. This effort includes dozens of targeted projects to install stronger utility poles and new, state-of-the-art equipment in communities across South Jersey. These upgrades continue to improve reliability for our customers by reducing the frequency and duration of outages.
The Washington/Gloucester Reliability Project will upgrade and modernize our existing substation on Hurffville Grenloch Rd., improving energy service reliability for more than 10,000 existing customers in Washington Township and about 1,300 customers in Gloucester Township. The project will create a more reliable and resilient connection between the regional transmission system and the local energy grid, enhancing reliability for local customers in these areas.
The existing substation was originally built in the 1960s and it must be modernized. The facility was last upgraded in the 1970s and much of the equipment has reached the end of its useful life. The new, state-of-the-art facility will have increased capabilities to handle more extreme weather, reduce the frequency and duration of power outages for local customers, support the community's energy needs, and prevent outages caused by animal intrusions. It will be built on our expanded property at the same location. Project construction is expected to begin mid-2020 and be completed by June 2022.
We are committed to working closely with our customers and communities to address questions and minimize any potential impacts. We held meetings with the community in October 2019 and November 2019 and have updated our project based on the feedback from these meetings. We will hold an additional open house on January 29, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Washington Township Senior Center where our project team will provide details, answer questions and address concerns regarding the project. If you would like additional information, please contact us at our dedicated project phone number 856-351-7690 or email address Wash-Glouc@exeloncorp.com.
The Atlantic City/Brigantine Community Reliability Project includes replacing an existing substation and rebuilding two critical transmission lines between Atlantic City and Brigantine to strengthen the local energy infrastructure against more extreme weather and improve reliability for customers. Together, these upgrades will create a modern energy infrastructure connecting Atlantic City and Brigantine that is stronger and more resilient. This improved infrastructure will lead to fewer storm-related outages and better reliability for customers. Construction is expected to begin in Fall 2020 and be completed by May 2022.
We are committed to working closely with our customers and communities to address questions and minimize any potential impacts. We held a community open house on July 13, 2019, at the Brigantine Community Center, where our project team provided details and answered questions regarding the project. In November 2019, we informed customers in Brigantine that, based on the results of our engineering studies, the Brigantine Boulevard portion of the project would be placed underground due to poor soil conditions that would significantly impact our ability to build overhead steel utility poles. More details regarding this decision can be found in our FAQ.
If you would like additional information, please contact us at our dedicated project phone number 609-625-8888 or email address ACBrigReliability@exeloncorp.com.
PowerAhead is our strategic grid resiliency initiative to modernize and enhance energy infrastructure in areas that have experienced outages during severe storms. Between 2017 and 2022, we will strengthen the grid and perform necessary system upgrades through this targeted initiative across portions of our service area. PowerAhead's planned projects include:
The Atlantic to Ocean Counties Reliability Project includes rebuilding 15 miles of critical transmission line running through Port Republic, Bass River Township and Little Egg Harbor Township to improve reliability for customers and meet the region's current and future energy needs. We are replacing the existing transmission line with stronger, state-of-the-art steel poles that are prepared to handle more extreme weather and reduce the impacts of severe storms.
This transmission line serves thousands of customers in the eastern portion of our service area and is critical to customer reliability in Atlantic, Burlington and Ocean counties. It was originally built in 1939 and is currently comprised of wood poles that are more vulnerable to storm damage. Our planned upgrades will provide us with greater capabilities to respond to outages in the region and will lead to fewer storm-related outages and better reliability for customers. Construction is expected to begin February 2021 and be completed by Summer 2022.
We are committed to working closely with our customers and communities to address questions and minimize any potential impacts. We will be holding open houses in the region at the beginning of 2020, where our project team will provide more details and answer questions. The open houses also will help us gather important feedback from the community and address concerns they may have. We are continuing to design this project and will provide updates as we move forward. If you would like additional information, please contact us at our dedicated project phone number at 855-839-1444 or email address AtlOceanReliability@exeloncorp.com.
Port Republic Presentation (Nov. 2019)
Learn more about how the local energy grid works.
