New York approves ConEd storm hardening plan

OREANDA-NEWS. ConEdison of New York will invest nearly \\$375mn this year to make its electric and natural gas distribution systems more storm-hardened and resilient under a plan state utility regulators approved this week.

The utility is making the investments to reduce the risk of the types of electric systems outages that hit New York City and other parts of the state in November 2012 in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. That storm flooded some substations and other grid infrastructure, causing electrical outages for more than two million people in the state.

ConEdison under the storm hardening plan will spend about \\$294mn this year on its electrical systems. The company plans to protect 16 substations from flooding and storm surges with reinforced perimeters, flood walls and raising the height of critical equipment above ground level. The New York Public Service Commission approved the storm hardening plan yesterday.

The utility will spend about \\$52mn this year to protect its natural gas systems by replacing gas mains in flood zones, installing remotely operated valves and hardening tunnels. It also will spend nearly \\$28mn to improve the resiliency of its steam generating systems used for heating.