PSE&G Announces Its Infrastructure Advancement Plan
New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G) wants to spend up to $900 million to upgrade its “last mile” infrastructure, as well as to expand its electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure. The initiatives are part of the company’s “Infrastructure Advancement Plan” which it unveiled at a Sept. 27, 2021 investor presentation.
Details of the Infrastructure Advancement Plan
The $900 million plan focuses on the following categories: last-mile reliability, expanding the EV infrastructure, upgrading substations, and modernizing regulating and gas-metering stations. It’s a huge initiative designed to position the company to continue to efficiently adapt to the evolution currently happening within the industry.
One thing to point out is, although the Infrastructure Advancement Plan was announced, it is not yet approved. PSE&G still needs to get state regulatory approval. As such, the company will be filing the plan with the NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU) likely sometime before the end of 2021, with the hope of potentially breaking ground in mid-2022. These details are courtesy of the presentation PSE&G made to investors.
The company plans to spend up to $225 million on last-mile reliability, which focuses on how and where the grid connects to residential neighborhoods. These plans include undergrounding power lines, upgrading poles, and installing spacer cables, among other things.
Other details in the plan include: (1) up to $100 million to support customer-owned solar, and to support transportation electrification, (2) up to $150 million to install 2,000 EV charging stations at 65 PSE&G facilities, and (3) up to $450 million for substations, and gas metering and regulating stations.
All in all, this is a huge initiative and I applaud it. PSE&G is clearly trying to stay ahead of the curve, which is an example that we can all follow. It’s helpful for emergency preparedness too, as greater reliability equals reduced outages. Kudos to PSE&G and its Infrastructure Advancement Plan!
