The 230,000-volt line connecting Aberdeen with Red Bank in Monmouth County would run along the existing NJ Transit rail corridor, resurrecting a plan dropped in 1990.
RED BANK--More than 25 years after widespread protests from grass roots organizers and elected officials helped kill a controversial high-voltage transmission line project through parts of Monmouth County, Jersey Central Power & Light Co. is trying again.
JCP&L officials announced today they will file for regulatory approval of the $75 million 230,000-volt line that will stretch nearly 10 miles from Aberdeen to Red Bank, along the NJ Transit North Jersey Coast rail line right-of-way.
The project, which officials said does not differ largely from the original plan, will cost a lot more. The original estimate was $14.5 million. What has also changed, say utility officials, is that the demand for power has caught up to what had been forecast for the area back when the transmission line was first proposed.
The utility said the so-called Monmouth County Reliability Project includes major enhancements to several electrical substations, where the power is reduced to lower-level distribution voltage to serve customers. Officials said the line will improve reliability and allow JCP&L to better monitor and more quickly react to power needs with new technology that delivers "real-time information" about system conditions.
"This is an area where we continue to see growth both in terms of customers and devices," said James Fakult, president of JCP&L. "It will help us really do the job we have to do."
The proposal requires approval by the state Board of Public Utilities and the Department of Environmental Protection.
Planned transmission line route
Proposed JCP&L transmission line would follow the existing NJ Transit rail corrider right-of-way, connecting substations in Aberdeen and Red Bank. (NJ. Advance Media/CartoDB | Aerials by Google Maps) JCP&L, with 1.1 million customers in 13 counties across the state, said the high-voltage line will benefit nearly 214,000 customers in Monmouth and give the utility more flexibility in rerouting power, as well as bringing additional electrical capacity to the area by serving as a new feeder line into the county.
"There will be upgrades and remote switching that let us do things more quickly," said Fakult.
The utility first proposed the transmission project back in the late 1980s, and quickly became mired in an escalating legal battle with the townships of Middletown, Hazlet and Holmdel. The project became the target of strong opposition led by a citizens group known as Residents Against Giant Electric (RAGE)--in an emotionally charged debate over the impact the line might have on property values, as well as fears over whether the electromagnetic fields emitted by all power lines posed a serious health threat to those who live nearby.
JCP&L, in an effort to defuse the controversy, later proposed installing a number of new low-power distribution lines through the region. But in 1990, the utility abruptly announced it would defer the project, citing changing economics and slowing growth in customer demand--not the legal battles over its construction.
Acknowledging the 25-year-old memories of that opposition, utility officials said they intend to schedule informational meetings in neighborhoods near the route of the proposed project, and have set up a website at monmouthreliability.com to provide more details to the public.
"We're looking to minimize issues," explained Fakult, who said the utility had looked at all the options that would enable it to provide a project that blends into the community.
The transmission line will be strung along 140-foot monopoles, rather than the old-style lattice towers of the past, and is following an existing rail line which already holds electrical lines.
He added that PJM Interconnection, the regional power pool that oversees the electrical grid across 13 states, has called the project necessary to reduce the length and frequency of service disruptions in Monmouth County. The project is part of a multi-year, $250 million transmission enhancement program statewide.
Elsewhere, though, the utility has been facing objections to a similar transmission line upgrade project in Morris County, with its Montville-Whippany 230,000-volt line reinforcement project. Residents, raising the same concerns over health issues and property values, want the utility to change the route and put the line underground close to residential neighborhoods--an option the utility has said would be prohibitively expensive.
A spokesman said the Montville project is currently before an administrative law judge and hearings are to begin next week, but JCP&L has reached an agreement with Montville, one of the intervenors in the case.
Not all of its projects, though, generate controversy. The utility said it is building a new 16-mile, 230,000-volt transmission line along existing right-of-way with steel pole construction to connect JCP&L substations in Howell and Neptune.
And it is involved in a new 11.5-mile transmission line project to enhance reliability and help meet a growing demand for electricity in Mercer, Middlesex and Monmouth counties.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.