National Grid Invests More Than $700 Million to Enhance Massachusetts Energy Resiliency in 2014

Investments make natural gas and electricity networks safer and more reliable

During the high winds, flooding and record-setting snow accumulation of Winter Storm Juno, fewer than 14,000 National Grid customers lost power at any point and the company’s natural gas system provided safe, reliable service throughout the nor’easter. The light, dry consistency of the snow certainly played a big role in the performance of these networks, but recent investments to improve the resiliency of the electricity and natural gas systems were crucial. In fact, last year alone, National Grid made a $718 million investment to enhance the reliability, efficiency and safety of its Massachusetts infrastructure. This total includes $382 million in electricity infrastructure investment and $336 million for natural gas infrastructure.

“We’re proud of how strong our infrastructure has become, because it means the investments we’re making for our customers are paying off,” said Marcy Reed, president of National Grid in Massachusetts. “We have an exciting opportunity ahead of us to continue offering our customers even more reliable service and to provide technologies and choices that enable them to take control of their energy use.”

The $382 million investment in National Grid’s electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure included replacing 8,500 utility poles, 6,000 transformers and 190 miles of power lines, as well as long-term projects to enhance the reliability of service for the company’s 1.3 million electricity customers in Massachusetts. For example, among dozens of other projects completed in 2014, the company installed a new power line to improve resiliency in Quincy and completed a brand new substation in Hampden as part of the $36 million Hampden County Reliability Project.

National Grid’s $336 million investment in its natural gas infrastructure last year included upgrading more than 150 miles of gas mains to state-of-the-art construction materials, adding 40 miles of new mains, connecting more than 9,000 customers to our network and performing significant resiliency work on 20 facilities to enhance the safety and reliability of the Massachusetts natural gas network for its 900,000 customers in the Commonwealth.

As National Grid strives to provide a resilient energy backbone that prevents and reduces the impact of service interruptions, the company plans to steadily increase its infrastructure investment going forward, investing $1.3 billion in electricity infrastructure and $2.4 billion in gas infrastructure over the next five years.

The company is also investing in the future of its infrastructure with projects such as the Smart Energy Solutions program in Worcester. This 15,000-customer pilot program, which officially went live on January 1, 2015, uses tools including advanced meters and communications systems that offer National Grid customers better data about their usage, enabling them to save money and energy. National Grid has also made investments to bring customers more of the clean, renewable energy they want: In addition to five megawatts of solar generation the company currently owns and operates, National Grid will build 16 megawatts of new solar generation in Massachusetts during the first half of 2015.