Construction Begins on CMP Project to Enhance Service in Skowhegan Area
CMP News
Central Maine Power Company, 83 Edison Drive, Augusta, ME 04336 (207) 622-NEWS
Corporate Communications - corpcomm@cmpco.com
Release: Immediate
Media Contact: Gail Rice (207) 622 NEWS
Construction Begins on CMP Project to Enhance Service in Skowhegan Area
AUGUSTA, Maine, May 27, 2014 " Central Maine Power Co., a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, has begun work on a project to upgrade parts of the electric-delivery system that serve southern Somerset County. The utility's Skowhegan Area Reinforcement Project involves rebuilding the Lakewood Substation and replacing a single 115-kilovolt (kV) line with two 115-kV lines through the same corridor.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission granted a Certificate for Public Convenience and Necessity for the $24.58 million project last June.
“The system that is currently in place has served the area well for decades, but studies show that residential and commercial growth has stretched the system to its capacity, and it is due for an upgrade," says CMP spokesperson Gail Rice. "These upgrades will create a more robust system with greater flexibility and redundancy for homes and businesses in the area."
The Lakewood Substation in Madison will get a second transformer; four new 115 kV breakers; four new 34.5 kV breakers; additional switches, relays, and protection equipment; and a new control house.
The single, four-mile 115 kV transmission line that runs from the Lakewood Substation to an existing transmission line in Cornville will be replaced with two 115 kV lines. Adding the second line will enhance system reliability for the region and mitigate low voltages that could occur in Skowhegan, Madison, and Norridgewock should the single 115 kV source into Lakewood experience an outage.
Because the project provides a regional reliability benefit, ISO New England approved CMP's petition to classify it as a "pool transmission facility." This means about $17 million of the total cost will be borne by ratepayers from throughout New England; CMP customers" share will be just 8 percent of that figure.
The project is expected to be put into service in April of 2015.
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About Central Maine Power Company (CMP): Central Maine Power Company, a subsidiary of Iberdrola USA, is Maine's largest electricity transmission and distribution utility. The company delivers about 9 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually to more than 600,000 homes and businesses, representing about 80% of Maine's annual consumer sales of electricity. The company has been ranked #1 in customer satisfaction six times by J.D. Power and Associates. For more information, visit www.cmpco.com/.
About Iberdrola USA: Iberdrola USA is the U.S. subsidiary of global energy leader Iberdrola, S.A. The Iberdrola USA companies employ about 5,000 people with operations in 24 states from New England to the West Coast, providing electricity generation, transmission and distribution, natural gas storage and distribution, and energy services. For more information, please visit our website: www.iberdrolausa.com. Follow us on Twitter: @IberdrolaUSA
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