PSEG Long Island LLC, on behalf of and as agent for the Long Island Lighting Company d/b/a LIPA, in an April 29 filing submitted to the New York State Public Service Commission, gave notice that the Riverhead to Canal Second 138-kV Underground Cable Project was placed in service on April 28.
According to the project’s website, construction crews are now completing the final portions of the project within the greater project area. Current activities include the restoration of access ways along Sunrise Highway and the various neighborhoods in Hampton Bays, as well as plantings and seeding, the website noted, adding that restoration work is anticipated to be completed by June.
As T&D World sister publication TransmissionHub reported, the New York State Department of Public Service in May 2020 noted that the commission on April 24, 2020, approved the environmental management and construction plan (EM&CP) submitted by PSEG Long Island on behalf of, and as agent for, LIPA (PSEG LI) for the project.
As noted in that April 24 commission order, the commission in December 2009 granted a certificate of environmental compatibility and public need under Article VII of the Public Service Law to PSEG Long Island, on behalf of, and as agent for, LIPA (PSEG LI), authorizing the construction, operation, and maintenance of a second 138-kV alternating current transmission facility underground in an existing second conduit adjacent to an existing transmission line running for about 16 miles between the Riverhead substation in Riverside and the Canal substation in Southampton in Suffolk County, N.Y.
The certificate contained several requirements for compliance, including a requirement that PSEG LI submit an EM&CP detailing the facility design, construction, and environmental controls.
The commission also noted that in February 2000, it issued a certificate, under Article VII, to PSEG LI allowing it to install one 138-kV cable — to initially operate at 69 kV — in one set of conduits from the Riverhead to Southampton substations. That project also included a second set of empty conduits from those substations, the commission said, adding that PSEG LI in 2005 installed an intermediate substation, the Canal substation, between the existing Riverhead and Southampton substations.
The Riverhead-Southampton 138-kV cable operating at 69 kV was divided at the Canal substation into two circuits: one circuit operating voltage increased to 138 kV on the Riverhead-Canal section and the second circuit operating voltage was retained at 69 kV on the Canal-Southampton section.
The commission added that in December 2009, it issued the certificate in the instant case to utilize the empty second set of conduits from the Riverhead to Canal substations for a second 138-kV circuit previously installed in 2000. PSEG LI filed its initial EM&CP for the project in February 2011, but the project was delayed so that the company could explore non-wires alternatives.
The commission also noted that according to PSEG LI, non-wires alternatives have been successful at delaying the need for the second 138-kV circuit since 2011. The company now states that its efforts to avoid the installation of the second cable have been exhausted. The commission added that according to the company, the project is still necessary to meet its customers’ current and future electrical requirements and is vital to maintaining the integrity of the electric transmission system within the East End of Long Island.
The project entails the construction, operation, and maintenance of a new 138-kV underground electric transmission line between the Riverhead substation and the Canal substation. The commission added that the facility will consist of a second circuit between the substations, will be located wholly within the Town of Southampton, and will be built primarily within existing right of way (ROW), consisting of municipal, county, and state roadway ROWs. For the majority of the route, the facility will be located along the shoulder of New York State Route 27 (Sunrise Highway), the commission said.
PSEG LI states that the project will now include the installation of a second set of splice vaults, or manholes, nearly adjacent to the existing vaults at an approximate interval of every 2,200 feet along the existing duct bank. The commission also said, among other things, that the project, according to PSEG LI, will require alterations at the Riverhead and Canal substations to accommodate the facility.
