FirstEnergy Pennsylvania Electric Company (FE PA), a FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) subsidiary doing business as Penelec in northwestern Pennsylvania, recently energized a new transformer at a substation in Bradford to enhance electric service reliability for more than 1,000 customers in Bradford and Bradford Township, including the University of Pittsburgh's Bradford campus.
The substation's previous transformer experienced an issue last fall and could not be repaired. A mobile substation provided temporary service to customers until a new transformer could be located, transported and installed to help ensure long-term grid stability.
John Hawkins, FirstEnergy President, Pennsylvania: "Resolving this critical issue was a top priority so we could provide our customers – including industrial facilities and the local Pitt campus – with reliable electric service. We engineered a solution, identified a spare transformer capable of handling the electrical load and installed the unit. I am pleased to report the new transformer has been in service for more than two months and operating as designed."
The new transformer measures 7-feet by-4-feet, stands 11 feet tall and weighs nearly 40,000 pounds. A large crane hoisted the unit over the substation fence and onto a concrete foundation. Electricians installed new electric cables in the substation to power the transformer's forced-air cooling fans, which provide more capacity than the former transformer that relied on natural air circulation to cool. Access into the substation was also enhanced to prevent utility trucks from blocking the street when using the front gate.
With the new transformer in place and operating properly, the mobile substation has been disconnected and is ready for deployment to where it is needed next.
The work is part of Energize365, a multi-year grid evolution program focused on transmission and distribution investments that will deliver the power FirstEnergy's customers depend on today while also meeting the challenges of tomorrow. With planned investments of $26 billion between 2024 and 2028, the program will create a smarter, more secure grid that will meet and exceed reliability targets and accommodate electric vehicles, the electrification of homes and businesses and clean energy sources.
Earlier this year, Penelec completed a significant forestry project to improve electric service reliability for customers in the Bradford area, some of whom had experienced outages caused by off-right-of-way trees during several powerful winter windstorms. About 40 tree-trimming contractors worked for two months along three power lines to take down roughly 1,400 dead, diseased or leaning trees that posed a danger to poles and wires.
As part of that effort, contractor Aerial Solutions used a helicopter saw to trim trees along a 13-mile power line running through rugged, heavily wooded terrain from a substation in Lewis Run which supplies much of the Bradford region with electricity. The aerial saw looks like a large chainsaw suspended from a helicopter and is the ideal tool to cleanly remove limbs and branches along power line corridors that are inaccessible for bucket trucks or in environmentally sensitive areas. This fast, safe and efficient method of trimming covers more area in a day than ground crews might complete in a week.
Penelec serves approximately 597,000 customers within 17,600 square miles of northern and western New York.
