PPL Corporation's Pennsylvania utility, PPL Electric Utilities, is proposing to build a major new regional transmission line that would make electric service more reliable and enhance the security of the electric grid while reducing the cost of electricity for consumers. As currently proposed, the 500-kV line would run about 725 miles (1,167 km) from western Pennsylvania into New York and New Jersey, and also south into Maryland.
The project is in the preliminary planning stages. If approved and built as proposed, the line would help replace supplies of electricity that will be lost when existing power plants retire. It also would help prevent power shortages during periods of extremely high demand, like the prolonged severe cold weather this past winter.
PPL Electric Utilities provides electric delivery services to about 1.4 million customers in Pennsylvania. The company owns and operates 4,500 miles (7,242 km) of electric transmission lines, and currently is building two major high-voltage transmission projects, the Susquehanna-Roseland line and the Northeast-Pocono Reliability Project.