PPL Electric Utilities Upgrades Luzerne Substation

Allentown, PA - PL Electric Utilities recently completed a nearly $9M upgrade to its Jenkins substation in Luzerne County, a project that will bolster regional electric service reliability.

Located in Laflin borough, the Jenkins substation is a hub for the utility's regional transmission network and converts high-voltage electricity from 230 to 69 kilovolts. Power lines from Jenkins then supply other area substations that deliver power to local customers.

The Jenkins substation improvements include new circuit breakers and other equipment that will bolster substation performance and help maintain the reliability of a 230-kilovolt transmission line that feeds the substation.

The overall project, which took about 14 months to complete, also included improvements to the switchyard at PPL's Susquehanna nuclear power plant outside Berwick, Luzerne County, and at PPL Electric Utilities' Stanton substation in Exeter Township. The improvements at the substations will relieve load on equipment and strengthen reliability.

The utility routinely studies and tests its equipment to plan improvements and address issues that might threaten safety and reliability.

"This project is one of the major investments we're making in our electric delivery network to enhance operations and improve service for customers across the region," said Stephanie Raymond, vice president of Transmission and Substations for the utility. The company is making $660M in capital improvements this year and plans to invest $3.6B over the next five years.

Also in Luzerne County, PPL Electric Utilities completed an $860,000 technology upgrade this year at its Wilkes-Barre substation to allow for enhanced remote identification of conditions that could affect service to customers and the ability to more quickly reroute power to avoid outages.