The Allentown-based utility says this year will mark its largest-scale infrastructure investment since 1970s.
PPL Electric Utilities this afternoon announced it will invest nearly $1 billion in infrastructure improvements in 2013 in part because of construction on a controversial power line spanning Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The Allentown-based utility said the $968 million investment is the largest-scale, single-year investment PPL has made since the 1960s and 1970s.
A bulk of the money -- $616 million -- is going toward transmission projects. An estimated $260 million of that money is specifically targeted for the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line, PPL spokesman Joe Nixon said this afternoon.
The Susquehanna-Roseland line is a 500-kilovolt line that would run through the federally owned Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Appalachian Trail and Middle Delaware National Scenic River. The 146-mile line is estimated to cost $1.2 billion and should be energized by 2015.
The plans were met with heavy criticism from environmentalists, who have said it jeopardizes wildlife and ruins pristine public lands. A court challenge that sought to block construction failed, meaning PPL and Newark-based PSE&G, which is handling the New Jersey portion of the line, can move forward.
“This will be our first active year of construction,” Nixon said, adding that the $260 million is only a portion of what PPL intends to spend on construction of the Pennsylvania portion of the line.
In addition to the Susquehanna-Roseland line, PPL also has earmarked $352 million for upgrades to its distribution network, according to a news release. That network includes poles, wires and substations typically seen along local streets and highways, the release says.
PPL says much of the work aims to improve reliability and limit the size and duration of power outages. The utility was among many in the Northeast that dealt with widespread outages last year in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.