JCP&L Wraps Up Projects Designed To Reduce Risk Of Outages

Jersey Central Power and Light (JCP&L), which supplies most of the area's electricity, just completed more than $97 million in major projects — all designed to reduce the risk of losing power in the next winter storm, summer hurricane or, as Monmouth County residents know — simply a windy day.

These projects include infrastructure enhancements, vegetation management and distribution automation to JCP&L's electric distribution system. The investment is part of an 18-month plan designed to enhance electric service reliability and minimize the impact of outages for JCP&L's 1.1 million customers in northern and central New Jersey.

Known as the JCP&L Reliability Plus Infrastructure Investment Program, the work was done between June 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020. Projects included:

Overhead circuit upgrades – JCP&L installed over 1,700 automated reclosing devices on power lines across its service territory to help reduce the frequency and duration of service interruptions. The electrical devices work like a circuit breaker in a home that shuts off power when trouble occurs, with the added benefit of automatically re-energizing a power line if it is temporarily interrupted to keep power safely flowing to customers.

The company also removed overhanging limbs near more than 1,300 miles of JCP&L power lines and in targeted areas to address tree damage and trimming in areas of the system impacted during severe weather.

Distribution automation – This is technology that can automatically detect damage on the system, safely isolate it and reroute power flow around the damaged equipment, reducing the number of customers out of service until repairs are made. JCP&L also added communications equipment to aid real-time monitoring of the distribution system to promote more rapid service restoration.

Substation reliability enhancement – Equipment upgrades were made to protect and modernize substations, making them less susceptible to storm damage. These upgrades included flood mitigation efforts and the installation of two specially designed flood walls in 2020 to protect substations serving customers in Sussex and Essex Counties. JCP&L also purchased a new 115kV mobile substation that can be transported to a substation experiencing an outage location to help restore customers more rapidly while permanent repairs are made.

In 2021, JCP&L plans to continue its ongoing service reliability efforts with capital investments aimed at equipment upgrades, as well as its annual vegetation management efforts and continued inspection and maintenance work to help enhance system resiliency and keep power flowing to customers during severe weather.

JCP&L serves 1.1 million customers in the counties of Burlington, Essex, Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren.

JCPL&L is a subsidiary of FirstEnergy, publicly traded on the stock market, which owns 10 electric distribution companies form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. The company's transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,500 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.

"We have taken great care to ensure that JCP&L Reliability Plus focuses on the enhancements that have the most reliability benefit for our more than one million New Jersey customers," said Jim Fakult, president of JCP&L. "These projects will help to reduce the frequency of power outages, mitigate potential tree damage during severe weather events, and modernize our electric grid to provide more flexibility and resiliency for the electrical system in New Jersey."