O&R Project to Deliver More Reliable Power to 40,000 in Rockland
Orange & Rockland (O&R) proposes to build an addition onto its Lovett electric substation in Stony Point – a project that significantly enhances the company’s electric transmission system to provide more reliable and resilient electric service for approximately 40,000 customers in the Rockland County communities of Stony Point, Haverstraw, Clarkstown and Orangetown.
O&R plans to build the addition at the former O&R Lovett Generating Station property at the corner of Elm and Spring Street in Tomkins Cove on 1.2 acres of a three-acre, empty lot. O&R presented the proposal at the Stony Point Planning Board Thursday night (April 28).
That property is adjacent to an existing O&R substation and overhead, high-voltage transmission lines in an active industrial site. The new equipment and the existing substation will be connected to the electric transmission system through overhead transmission lines, improving electric service reliability for the community.
This is not a power plant. O&R will not generate power at this site.
O&R President and CEO Robert Sanchez said, “This project represents a significant milestone in the development of O&R’s electric delivery system for its customers. The project also helps support New York State’s CLCPA goals to provide clean and reliable energy service. These improvements make the O&R system more robust, more reliable and more powerful.”
New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act’s (CLCPA) goal is to eliminate 100% of the climate pollution caused by humans, calling for an 85% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with an interim target of 40% by 2030.
O&R has made investments totaling over $130 million this year to fortify and improve the reliability of its electric system. That investment builds on the nearly $1 billion O&R has invested over the past 10 years on electric system maintenance and reliability projects.
At current rates, O&R estimates that, when this project is complete, it will produce approximately $1.9 million each year in shared tax revenues to the Town of Stony Point, the North Rockland Central School District, and the County of Rockland. Construction on the project is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2023 and is due to go online in May 2024.
After it’s completed, O&R’s current substation and its new addition will produce virtually no vehicular traffic. O&R also plans to install low-noise equipment in the facility.
Regular maintenance visits by O&R personnel will take place during daylight hours, but the substation’s equipment will be constantly and thoroughly monitored through systems within the facility that will communicate with O&R’s 24/7 Energy Control Center.
About O&R
Orange and Rockland Utilities (O&R) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Edison, Inc. (Con Edison) (NYSE: ED), one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies. O&R is a regulated electric and gas utility that serves approximately 244,000 electric customers and 131,000 natural gas customers in New York.