The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a request from Penelec to rearrange the connections of a 115kV (kilovolt) transmission line at the Warren Substation in Starbrick.

Penelec spokesman Scott Surgeon said the change was mandated by PJM, the Regional Transmission Operator responsible for the reliable operation of the interconnected transmission system for the bulk electric system portion of the FirstEnergy transmission system to help provide back-ups in case of loss of service from other lines, and to increase the capacity of the Falconer-Warren and Corry East-Warren lines.

The Letter of Notification, sent to the PUC in May by Penelec states, “The existing Warren Substation is being expanded to include a four breaker 230 kV ring bus. As part of the overall effort, Penelec proposes to rearrange connections of the existing 115 kV lines into the Warren Substation. The Corry East-Warren 115 kV and Falconer-Warren 115 kV transmission lines are located north of the existing Warren Substation.

“The existing Erie South-Warren 230 kV and Glade-Warren 230 kV transmission lines and the existing 230/115 kV transformer will be connected to the new 230 kV ring bus. Additionally, a second 230/115kV transformer will be installed.”

New connections from the right-of-way north of the substation will require two new 80-foot pole structures.

“The two new single-circuit midspan structures will be installed within the existing, cleared ROW, and will be directly embedded into the ground,” according to the Letter of Notification.

The letter states that the total cost is estimated to be $245,000, and the entire project will involve about 450 feet of line.