9 12 24 West Orange BOA ZB 24 06 PSEG Full size Transcript

Page 111 1 all proposed lights can be provided. 2 Thank you. That does conclude my 3 testimony. 4 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Okay. Mr. 5 Copa, one question I have is, are there any 6 underground connections and wires being put in the 7 substation on the equipment? 8 THE WITNESS: Yes, there will be some 9 new -- there will be new underground work being put 10 in essentially to reconfigure the circuits to -- as 11 we showed earlier. I'm just going to highlight 12 where the existing equipment is. We will need to 13 provide some additional underground work to support 14 getting the existing circuits that go to the 15 existing equipment located in approximately these 16 three locations. 17 We have to get the existing circuits over 18 to the location for the new switchgear. So we are 19 installing some -- an additional run of manholes 20 located right here that run down and connect to our 21 new switchgear unit. 22 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: And how far -- 23 how deep do you need to go? 24 THE WITNESS: Those duct banks are 25 generally 6 to 8 feet below grade.

Page 112 1 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Okay. Fine. 2 Okay. 3 I'm going to go to Board members. We're 4 going to go in reverse order. 5 Mr. Sussman, do you have any questions? 6 COMMISSIONER SUSSMAN: I have no questions 7 of this witness. Thank you. 8 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Okay. 9 Mr. Scott? 10 COMMISSIONER SCOTT: Thank you. 11 Mr. Copa, regarding the equipment, this is 12 permanent equipment that is going to be placed at 13 the site? 14 THE WITNESS: Yes, that is correct. 15 COMMISSIONER SCOTT: Okay. And it's your 16 testimony that the trees that need to come down, 17 that you are recommending come down, that that is 18 absolutely necessary for the siting of this 19 equipment? 20 THE WITNESS: Correct. It is necessary 21 for the switchgear to be located in the area it is 22 because, as I've drawn in the yellow boxes, this is 23 where the existing 26 kV circuits are all currently 24 located. And to maintain the station operating as 25 it is currently, our new equipment has to be

Page 113 1 installed outside of those areas so that we can do a 2 construction sequence, cutover sequence, to make 3 sure that we maintain operation of the station as 4 normal during the entirety of construction. 5 COMMISSIONER SCOTT: I understand. 6 So that would be to maintain the current 7 flow of electricity? 8 THE WITNESS: Correct. 9 COMMISSIONER SCOTT: I see. I understand. 10 Thank you very much. That concludes my questions. 11 Thank you. 12 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Mr. Ricci? 13 Ricci. Sorry. 14 COMMISSIONER RICCI: Yes. 15 Mr. Copa, very good presentation. 16 Question. Am I correct in saying that all 17 of the upgrade -- electrical upgrades that are being 18 done are really to maintain the size of the service? 19 You're not doubling the size of this electrical 20 transfer station, are you? 21 THE WITNESS: That's correct. Yeah, this 22 is maintaining the size of the service, just 23 upgrading it from equipment that ranges anywhere 24 from, right now, 20 to some of the equipment is 25 close to that 100 years when the station was

Page 114 1 originally built in 1928. 2 COMMISSIONER RICCI: Okay. Thank you very 3 much. 4 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Mr. Eben? 5 Jerry? 6 COMMISSIONER EBEN: I don't have any 7 questions for this expert. 8 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Okay. Mike 9 Dannemiller? 10 COMMISSIONER DANNEMILLER: I have one 11 question. Thanks for your presentation. 12 The lightning poles, what will those look 13 like? They're kind of tall. What color will they 14 be? What are they made of? 15 THE WITNESS: Yeah. So they are a tapered 16 steel design. I actually will go to one of these 17 photo simulations. This is one of the existing 18 lightening masts. You can see it in the background 19 here. They are a tapered steel pole, 70 feet tall. 20 They're galvanized gray to blend back into the 21 skyline, and they taper as they go up. So they 22 start at a base of approximately 3 to 4 feet in 23 diameter at the base and taper up as they go up in 24 height. 25 COMMISSIONER DANNEMILLER: Okay. So is

Page 115 1 that like a dull gray/silver kind of color? 2 THE WITNESS: Exactly. Yep. 3 COMMISSIONER DANNEMILLER: Okay. Thank 4 you. No further questions. 5 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Mr. Barbee? 6 COMMISSIONER BARBEE: No questions. Thank 7 you. 8 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Okay. 9 Mr. Williams, any questions? 10 MR. WHEATLE WILLIAMS: Yes. Thanks, 11 Acting Chair. 12 Just for clarification on the record, if 13 Mr. Copa could just state for the record the purpose 14 of the lightning masts. I appreciate the answer to 15 the prior question, but just for the record, what is 16 the purpose of a lightning mast? 17 THE WITNESS: Yeah. So the purpose of the 18 lightning mast is basically they are the taller 19 structures, so they're then designed to protect the 20 shorter equipment that is less than there. So that 21 rather than the critical electrical grid getting 22 struck by lightning in the event of a lightning 23 strike, the lightening masts are to protect those by 24 mitigating those strikes to those pieces of 25 equipment that keep the equipment operating as

Page 116 1 is. 2 MR. WHEATLE WILLIAMS: Thank you. 3 Very quick follow-up question is, is that 4 what drives the selection of the height? And could 5 you just opine on the selection of height for a 6 second? 7 THE WITNESS: Correct. So, yeah, that all 8 factors in. There's -- basically the IEEE 998 code 9 specifies basically the height delta between the 10 equipment you're trying to protect as well as the 11 top of your lightning mast and provides you with a 12 radius of protection that those masts are providing 13 over equipment at the lower heights that it is 14 protecting. 15 MR. WHEATLE WILLIAMS: Okay. Thank you. 16 That's it for me, Mr. Chair. 17 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Thank you. 18 Mr. Hess, do you have any questions? 19 MR. HESS: I have one quick question, 20 Mr. Chairman. 21 What is the anticipated life expectancy 22 for the new 26 kV equipment that's proposed? 23 THE WITNESS: Yeah. The new switchgear -- 24 generally the vendors are quoting 30 to 50 years on 25 the life cycles of these new switchgear units.

Page 117 1 Some of the equipment within those switchgears 2 might have to be replaced as part of it, but the 3 building itself is in that 50-ish year-like 4 cycle. 5 MR. HESS: Great. Thanks. That's all the 6 questions I have. 7 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Okay. We will 8 go to public questions. 9 MEETING MODERATOR: We have Kevin Malanga. 10 Do you want to take him first? 11 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Sure. 12 CROSS-EXAMINATION 13 BY MR. MALANGA: 14 Q. Mr. Copa, good evening. 15 How was the number of lightening masts 16 determined? 17 A. Yeah. Similar as I was describing 18 earlier, the calculations on the lightening masts, 19 they give us a radius of protection that they 20 protect based on the height of the equipment they're 21 protecting, and then that goes through an iterative 22 process to optimize the number of masts that would 23 be needed for the site. 24 Q. So presently on the site it is 25 underprotected?

Page 118 1 A. No. So presently -- because we are 2 installing equipment in new areas of the site, the 3 site currently is protected by 14 separate 4 lightening masts. We are taking out two of them and 5 we are adding in six new masts to protect our 6 equipment that is located in new areas where there's 7 not currently equipment that exists. So we are net 8 increasing four lightening masts for the overall 9 station. 10 Q. Does anyone keep track of how many 11 lightning strikes per year take place at this 12 site? 13 A. I do not know that data; however, there is 14 a National Lightning Detection Network that puts New 15 Jersey in the four flashes per square kilometer as a 16 state. So that is, I guess, across the State of New 17 Jersey. 18 Q. Is that high or low? 19 A. New Jersey is on the lower side compared 20 to, say, the southeast; however, it is higher than 21 when you get out west into, say, Montana, Colorado, 22 et cetera. 23 Q. Now, you said that the placement of this 24 equipment had to be where it is proposed. Is that 25 right?

Page 119 1 A. Correct. 2 Q. There's no other place on this site? No 3 room for modifying the location of this equipment? 4 A. That is correct. 5 Q. So it can't be moved 10 feet in either 6 direction? 7 A. It could be moved that way. However, we 8 have minimized to keep the minimum amount of 9 clearance between our existing equipment and the new 10 switchgear to, therefore, minimize the impacts to 11 additional things. So it could be moved; however, 12 any moves would just increase our new area of 13 disturbance we would need to provide for the site. 14 Q. So is it possible for the equipment to be 15 moved to the north? 16 A. It is not. Because as I've drawn here in 17 this yellow box, we have existing equipment that 18 needs to stay in service while our new switchgear 19 unit is installed. 20 Q. And is it possible for it to be moved to 21 the west? 22 A. We cannot move it further to the west 23 because there is a duct bank here, as well as we 24 need to maintain clearance from our existing 25 transformer unit for fire protection purposes.

Page 120 1 MR. MALANGA: I have no other questions. 2 Thank you, Mr. Copa. 3 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Next. 4 MEETING MODERATOR: Okay. Any members of 5 the public that wish to speak? Please state your 6 name. 7 We don't have any hands. 8 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: No hands? 9 MEETING MODERATOR: No hands yet. 10 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Okay. Okay. 11 We'll move on. 12 MEETING MODERATOR: Okay. 13 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Ms. Porter, 14 next. 15 MS. PORTER: Thank you, Mr. Copa. 16 Members of the board, we would next like 17 to call Mr. John Futey. He is our project landscape 18 architect. And I know his testimony has been 19 awaited by the Board and the public in terms of 20 specifically addressing the trees being removed 21 and being proposed in connection with this 22 application. 23 So, Mr. Futey -- 24 ACTING CHAIR SCHWARZBAUM: Before -- I 25 have a question. I'm going to leave it to you.