New WMECO Electricity Towers are Stronger and Better

The Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) has been steadily adding new electricity towers to its service area. These new towers are stronger than their old counterparts and that means that they are better able to stand up in storms. They are also better in the sense that they can carry the greater weight of new transmission lines that have higher wattage. The result is that there is more power in the service area.

WMECO is installing these new structures and corresponding new overhead electricity lines across twenty three miles of land between Ludlow and Southwick. This area has seen a large increase in the demand for electricity in the past few decades and the new power towers are designed to help meet that demand. The new structures can handle a much higher voltage which basically means that there can be more power moved around the area in a much more efficient manner.

The increase in power capacity is the main purpose of these new electricity towers but there’s the added benefit that the towers are stronger than older towers. This means that they can hold up better in inclement weather, particularly in terms of winter storms when high winds and thick ice accumulation had caused problems for their older towers.

How will this affect you if you are WMECO customer? Actually, that’s a little bit unclear at this point. The project is costing nearly $800 million but it hasn’t been stated whether this will lead to a change in customer’s WMECO electric bill. The good news is that service shouldn’t be affected in any way during the construction which is set to be complete by late 2013.

Source: http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/hampden/wmeco-installing-new-electricity-towers