Dive Brief:
- An administrative law judge in Pennsylvania has given his blessing to a proposed $247 million, 58-mile, 230-kV line in the state's Pocono region.
- If there are no objections filed with the Public Service Commission in the next 20 days, construction of the line and two new substations by PPL would begin in 2014, with completion scheduled for 2017.
Dive Insight:
The line is sorely needed as the population in six counties near Scranton and Wilkes-Barre has been growing rapidly and is expected to double in some areas by 2020. Peak load has grown from 565 megawatts in 2003 to 635 MW today.