FirstEnergy Transmission Line Rebuild Completed in Wood County

FirstEnergy Corp. has rebuilt a transmission line connecting substations in Bowling Green and Pemberville to help enhance service reliability for about 38,000 customers in Wood County in the Toledo Edison service area.

The $6.3-million project included replacing 220 poles in the existing transmission right-of-way and installing a second 69-kilovolt circuit.  Overall, more than 16 miles of wire was installed along the route.  In addition, remote control switching devices were installed on the new sections, which allows grid operators to assess operational conditions more quickly, reducing the length and frequency if service disruptions occur.

“Doubling the capacity of the transmission line will help provide increased reliability for customers in Wood County,” said Rich Sweeney, regional president of Toledo Edison.  “The rebuilt power line and remote-control equipment will help strengthen the grid and increase the flexibility and redundancy of our system.”

The rebuilt line went into service in mid-December.  As part of the project, work also was done to upgrade the Pemberville substation, with additional enhancements scheduled to be done at the Bowling Green substation next year.

The project is one of numerous distribution and transmission infrastructure projects totaling approximately $115 million that FirstEnergy completed in 2016 in Toledo Edison’s service area.