N.Y. Approves PSEG Cross-Hudson Cable

New York approved Wednesday running a new power cable across the Hudson River that will carry 600 megawatts of muc- needed electricity into New York City from a power plant in neighboring New Jersey.

PSEG Power Cross Hudson Corp., which filed its application for the line in Oct. 2001, will build and operate the line and a new substation.

The eight-mile line will be capable of suppling electricity to about 600,000 New York City homes. About half the length of of the line will be submerged in the Hudson River.

PSEG is a unit of diversified energy company Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. ((PEG.N)) of Newark, New Jersey.

Officials at PSEG were not immediately available to discuss when they might start building the line or when it would enter service.

"While much attention has been focused on the need for generation, new transmission facilities, such as the Cross Hudson line approved today, also will play a critical role in meeting our future energy needs," said New York Public Service Commission (NYPSC) Chairman William Flynn.

"This new line will bring power from an efficient, gas-fired combined cycle facility into New York City and will help displace the use of older, less efficient generation sources," he said.

The 345 kilovolt (KV) alternating current (AC) transmission line will connect PSEG Power's Bergen generating station in Ridgefield, New Jersey, with a Consolidated Edison Co. of New York Inc. substation in Manhattan.

Con Edison serves some 9 million people in New York City and Westchester County, New York. It is a distribution subsidiary of diversified energy company Consolidated Edison Inc. ((ED.N)).

The Bergen generating station includes two gas-fired combined-cycle plants. Bergen 1 is 675 MW and Bergen 2, which began operation on June 1, 2002, is 546 MW.

The station also has a small 21 MW gas peaking unit installed in 1967. A third 550 MW unit, Bergen 3, is being planned and could be in operation as early as 2004, according to the company's Web site.

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