When Superstorm Sandy slammed into New Jersey in 2012, torrential rains led to flooding at 18 Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) substations.
Floodwaters can be especially damaging to substations – water shorts out electrical equipment, and debris carried by the floodwater creates the need for additional, sometimes extensive, repairs. Outages caused by substation flooding can affect tens of thousands of customers.
To help mitigate flooding risk with future storms, JCP&L invested $16.1 million as part of its Reliability Plus infrastructure investment plan to keep substation equipment dry during major weather events. At 20 substations around the state, flood walls were built, equipment was raised above flood-stage height and real-time monitoring equipment was installed.
Following are images of the automated flood walls in Sussex County, New Jersey. All photos from Flickr/FirstEnergy.