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Progress Energy Carolinas is committed to providing safe, reliable and affordable energy to our customers.
Past and expected growth in the area including Richmond and Moore counties has prompted the need for a regional transmission system enhancement. To ensure the continued reliability of the transmission system that serves this area, Progress Energy Carolinas will invest an estimated $27 million to build a new electric transmission line and make improvements to existing facilities that serve Richmond and Moore counties.
Progress Energy's continuous assessment of electric system needs indicates that by 2011, under certain circumstances, there could be voltage and reliability issues on the electric transmission system that serves the area. The project will help ensure a continued reliable flow of electricity.
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Project Description
The new transmission line will begin at the Rockingham 230-kV substation (located east of the intersection of Airport Road and Mizpah Road). The line will terminate at the West End 230-kV substation (located off Highway 211 and near NC 5). Improvements will be made to both the Rockingham and West End 230-kV substations. The total length of the new transmission line will be 32 miles long.
The new transmission line will be built on 100-foot-wide property easements.
*Current construction plans call for the line to be attached to H-frame structures standing approximately 80 to 90 feet tall and spaced every 600 to 900 feet apart, depending on terrain.
A final route has been selected based in large part on public input (received at public information meetings in the area and through the Web) as well as input from state and federal agencies with an interest in the project. Acquisition of the transmission line right of way will take place 2007-2009. Clearing for the line will begin in 2009, with construction starting in 2009 and ending in mid-2011. As with all projects of this sort, construction schedules are subject to change based on a variety of factors, including changes in population and usage growth.
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Benefits to the Community
- The electric system must keep pace with growth throughout this region. In addition to building new power plants, Progress Energy must enhance the transmission and distribution systems to help ensure a continuous, reliable flow of electricity to homes and businesses in the region. This project is one of several major transmission system upgrades planned over the next five years to benefit Progress Energy's customers in the Carolinas. The company is investing hundreds of millions of dollars on transmission system projects over the next several years.
- Without the transmission system upgrades, this growth area could exceed electric system capability in the near future, potentially creating the types of electric system reliability concerns that have plagued other parts of the country in recent years.
- Electricity is far too important for our customers to risk service interruptions or problems with power quality due to inadequate facilities. Progress Energy has an obligation to ensure that the electric system is maintained and upgraded as needed to ensure reliable service to its customers.
- The upgrades will enhance system reliability for electricity consumers throughout the region, including consumers who receive electric service from providers other than Progress Energy.
- Maintaining a robust system for supplying and delivering electricity is integral to ensuring the continued economic prosperity of the region.
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Land Acquisition
Progress Energy expects to have to acquire easements for the project from property owners. The project requires new rights of way 100 feet wide, plus rights to remove or cut back danger trees and install guy wires outside the right-of-way corridor. Right-of-way requirements in some areas might vary from the 100-foot width, depending on existing facilities or other co-location opportunities. (Danger trees are trees that could fall from outside the right of way into the line or easement, causing outages or safety concerns.)
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Public Participation
Progress Energy believes public participation is critical to the success of the project. The company will host two meetings for the public to give property owners an opportunity to learn more about the need for the project, the construction schedule, what the transmission line will look like, and other project-related information. The meetings will be held Tuesday, Aug. 22, at the Moore County Senior Center Building in West End, and Thursday, Aug. 24, at Richmond Community College's Cole Auditorium in Hamlet. They will follow an open-house format, allowing participants to come and go as they please and get answers to specific questions. Progress Energy also will make information available via the news media and this Web site and will communicate directly with affected property owners and others.
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Schedule
Public announcement: August 8, 2006
Information meetings: August 22 and 24, 2006
Route selection: June 2007
Right-of-way acquisition: 2007-2009
Clearing and line construction begins: 2009
Project in service: mid-2011
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Map
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