Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp., is making a $15.4mn (€14.07mn) investment in Hunterdon County, United States, to make its electric network more resilient. The project involves more than 3,600 customers across the municipalities of Alexandria, Delaware, Flemington Borough, Franklin, Frenchtown Borough, Kingwood, Stockton Borough and Union. The work includes modernising overhead lines, substations and installing underground cables in wooded areas.
Strengthening electrical infrastructure
The Baptistown and Rosemont substations are being upgraded to better meet the growing energy demand in their service areas. The work includes reconfiguring circuits to optimise distribution, installing TripSaver automatic devices to limit outages, and laying nearly 5 km of underground cables in hard-to-reach areas. More than 30 poles and 32 km of overhead lines are being replaced to increase capacity and storm resilience.
Integration of automated technologies
TripSaver devices can detect and automatically resolve certain temporary incidents, such as a brief contact between a branch and a line, without human intervention. This technology aims to reduce outage time for affected customers. Reinforced vegetation management operations are being carried out alongside the project to limit the risk of trees or branches falling on power lines.
A long-term programme
This project is part of the New Jersey Reliability Improvement Project, a two-phase programme aimed at improving the reliability of lines with a history of outages. Within two years, $95mn (€86.77mn) of work is expected to be completed, with additional projects planned through 2028. The plan is part of Energize365, a $28bn (€25.57bn) investment programme launched by FirstEnergy to modernise its network between 2025 and 2029.
Doug Mokoid, President of FirstEnergy for New Jersey, said these upgrades will help meet growing demand while ensuring stable supply, including during severe weather.
