PSEG’s underground cable plan in early stages

PSEG Long Island is reaching out to officials in the Village of Rockville Centre and other municipalities as it awaits approval for a $176 million project to build a high-voltage underground cable from a substation in Uniondale to one in Lynbrook.

The Western Nassau Transmission Project aims to address the potential failure of two existing 50-year-old cables, and improve power reliability and grid resiliency in the region by adding a new transmission line.

“This proposed underground transmission project, which will provide much-needed resilience and redundancy to southwestern Nassau County’s electrical grid, is in the early stage of public review,” said Jeremy Walsh, a spokesperson for the Public Service Enterprise Group of Long Island, in an email to the Herald. “No route details have been finalized.”

Transmission lines are high-voltage cables that connect to substations, which reduce power from high to low voltage, enabling electricity to be distributed to neighborhoods, homes and businesses.

There are already two transmission lines that feed into the Lynbrook substation. Adding a third, 138,000-volt cable would ensure that if anything caused a failure to the existing, antiquated lines, the power would remain on.

Walsh’s statement came after Jeffrey Weir, a PSEG spokesman, said recently that there were five possible routes for the project. Weir told the Herald last month that the most desired route would run from Stewart Avenue to Merrick Road in Lynbrook. Weir has since left PSEG.

At the Feb. 5 Lynbrook village meeting, it was brought to officials’ attention that the preferred route would mean the line would have to run under Peninsula Boulevard, which could be problematic because there is already a high-power gas main there. And Mayor Alan Beach said some residents were concerned that freshly paved roads would have to be dug up.

Rockville Centre Mayor Francis Murray said last week that he met with representatives from PSEG and informed them of the high-pressure National Grid gas line under Peninsula, which he estimated to be between 36 to 48 inches wide.

“You can’t really put that other line that close to it,” he told the Herald. “It’s the main pipe going up through Nassau County. You can’t mess with that thing.”

Walsh noted that routes would not be finalized until the Public Service Commission approved the project and PSEG representatives met with officials in municipalities that would be affected by the work. PSEG filed an application with the PSC to construct the line on Jan. 9.

Village spokeswoman Julie Scully said that PSEG has presented one primary strategy and two secondary strategies as potential routes.

“The strategy that includes [Rockville Centre] is not the primary strategy,” Scully wrote to the Herald in an email. “…More information will come available at some point in the future, but right now it doesn’t look like the Village will be impacted.”

The work would involve trenching to place the three copper cables in plastic sheathing underground across 7.3 miles.

Upgrades would also have to be made to the two substations that would connect to the new line, one in Uniondale (called the East Garden City substation) and one in Lynbrook (known as the Valley Stream substation).

Officials said the work would likely affect traffic along the route, but Walsh said there would be steps taken to try to mitigate any issues.

“This construction plan, which may be filed in early 2019, will be developed in cooperation with the PSC and all communities affected by the project,” he said. “It will take into account any impacts to traffic, roadways, re-paving projects, vegetation and any overhead or underground utility lines.”

Walsh said the PSC must approve PSEG’s application for a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility, and determine whether the project is needed.

“The extensive review for this application, which includes a public hearing and multiple open house information sessions, is expected to last through the year,” Walsh said. He added that if the PSC approves the project, PSEG would submit an environmental management and construction plan for review and approval.

If approved, the project would begin in the third or fourth quarter of 2019 and be completed by December 2020.

Rockville Centre resident Jeffrey Greenfield, a trustee for the Long Island Power Authority, said he was confident that PSEG officials are eager to work with residents in affected communities.

“I think the residents can rest assured that there’s going be a lot of community input,” Greenfield said. “There’s going be a lot of dialogue and a lot of discussion before the first shovel goes into the ground.”

For more information about the project, call a hotline at (516) 780-0665, or visiting westernnassautransmission.com.