ALBANY —The New York State Public Service Commission recently approved plans by Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inc., for a new two-year electric system construction project, valued at $57.8 million. It is designed to improve electric service reliability and system resiliency for approximately 45,000 utility customers by installing 5.5 miles of new electric transmission cable underground in the southwest section of Clarkstown.

The project calls for a new 138 kilovolt (kV) underground transmission line, primarily within the public roadway rights-of-way for a total distance of approximately five-and-one-half miles between the Burns substation and the West Nyack Substation in the Town of Clarkstown, Rockland County.

“This new transmission project is good news for the region and its customers,” said PSC Chair Rory M. Christian. “It will help improve reliability and reduce the chances of power outages due to an over-stressed electric grid.”

According to the proposal, the new power line is needed to relieve potential overloading of O&R’s existing 138 kV overhead Line 702 between its Burns and Oak Street substations. Recent summer studies indicate that the power flow on the existing line will exceed its capacity if an outage occurs on another 138 kV line serving the region. Additional anticipated loads from proposed data centers in the Orangetown area will increase the potential for overloading under the same contingency.

Once completed, the project will immediately alleviate loads on the existing line, improving the regional transmission network’s overall resiliency and power source reliability to southern Rockland County, while utilizing existing ROW without visual impacts.

The new transmission line will provide an additional source of electricity for southern Rockland County, where increasing business development is creating additional electric system demand. In addition, the new transmission line’s connection to a new transformer bank in West Nyack will improve electric service reliability, resiliency, and capacity for a large number of Clarkstown and Orangetown customers, Orange & Rockland Utilities stated.