FirstEnergy upgrades leads to performance improvements in power grid

FirstEnergy Corp.’s Energizing the Future initiative has modernized the “electric superhighway” of its power grid, which carries energy across FirstEnergy’s territory.

Since the Energizing the Future initiative was launched in 2014, FirstEnergy has seen a 37 percent reduction in equipment-related outages in its territory, which includes customers with Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating and Toledo Edison utilities in Ohio, and Penn Power customers in western Pennsylvania.

The program will soon expand eastward into the Met-Ed and Penelec service areas in Pennsylvania. FirstEnergy expects to invest more than $1 billion per year on transmission upgrades from now through 2021.

“Energizing the Future is an essential part of our efforts to ensure customers benefit from a smarter, stronger and more secure power grid in the years ahead,” Carl Bridenbaugh, FirstEnergy’s vice president of transmission, said. “A robust transmission system – along with a modern, resilient distribution grid – is necessary to keep power flowing to customers around the clock and to mitigate the risk of a larger, extended outage.”

Since this initiative began, FirstEnergy has upgraded or replaced aging infrastructure – such as circuit breakers, transformers, and deteriorating poles or towers.

“The majority of the U.S. electric transmission system was built in the 1960s and 1970s, and significant upgrades are needed now and in the years ahead to modernize the system and enhance performance,” Bridenbaugh said. “In the last few years, we’ve replaced or rebuilt more than 1,200 miles of transmission lines across our territory, and we have a rigorous process in place to identify projects that can reduce transmission outages and enhance reliability for customers.”

FirstEnergy’s transmission subsidiaries operate more than 24,000 miles of transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions.