State authority plans $70M project to repair LI Sound power cable

The New York Power Authority this fall will begin a $70 million repair to the Long Island Sound Cable, a vital power line that links Long Island to Westchester County, following a year in which three major cables experienced outages.

The upgrade will start in the fall and be finished by the end of 2023, said NYPA, which owns the cable. The 30-year-old power line, which provides more than 600 megawatts of power, or nearly 10% of local power sources to the island, won’t be available during the work.

Loss of the cable during a portion of 2021 caused a jump in power prices on Long Island because LIPA was forced to buy more expensive power when three major cables, including the Sound cable (also known as Y49), were out at once during the peak summer season. LIPA also negotiated with NYPA to reopen a plant in Holtsville that had been slated for retirement as the state moves to non-fossil fuel sources such as solar and wind power.

The 26-mile cable has experienced most of its problems underground on the Nassau land-based portion of the line, although an anchor strike in Hempstead Harbor took the line down in the mid-2010s. The cable connects in Sprain Brook, Yonkers, via a link to the Long Island grid at East Garden City.

The work will include construction of new manholes, replacement of older fiber optic cables and instrumentation improvements to "bring operational flexibility to the line and alleviate the risk of faults," NYPA said.

NYPA spokesman Paul DeMichele said loss of the power during just over a year of construction isn't expected to impact availability on Long Island.

"It will not be in use during the project construction, but PSEG Long Island expects to have sufficient electricity from available sources to meet forecast customer demand, contingent upon other transmission and generation facilities remaining in service," he said.

The project won’t have a direct impact on Long Island customer bills, DeMichele said. NYPA, which owns the cable and contracts its usage to LIPA, will bill all customers in the state for the repair, which is expected to cost around $70 million, including $38 million to utility construction firm Elecnor Hawkeye based in Hauppauge. NYPA's board approved that contract Tuesday.

Last summer, a perfect storm of cable outages affected Long island when both the Y49 cable and the Y50 cable, which connects to the Con Edison system in New York City, experienced outages, and a land-based transformer outage cut a third cable, the Neptune transmission line under the Atlantic, to half its 660-megawatt capacity.

The Y49 and Y50 cables were back in service in the fall, and the Neptune line is expected to be back up early this year.

In a statement, NYPA trustee Michael Balboni said the work will "ensure reliable transmission of power to the nearly three million New Yorkers that make Long Island their home."

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.