wiredinUSA July 2020

Photo: Erickson Inc

New Jersey airlift

Engineers employed in building Atlantic City Electric’s projects to enhance grid resiliency are using Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane helicopters to place hurricane-resistant lines across marshland and to transport construction workers over environmentally sensitive areas. Four Atlantic City Electric projects are under construction, the first — an upgrade to a major transmission line off Absecon Island — was completed in April. “This is the first time [a helicopter has been] used in marshland construction with PyraMAX transmission towers,” said Gordon Dennis, senior project manager for engineering and construction firm Henkels & McCoy Inc, who are responsible for installation and construction of the transmission poles, towers and lines as well as demolition and removal of the existing system. The helicopters delivered and installed the

steel for three 69,000V transmission lines, and removed wooden poles in marshland to replace them with the PyraMAX towers, designed to withstand winds up to 120mph. Dan Loveland, director of project management for Atlantic City Electric and Delmarva Power, believes $2.5 million was saved on the project by using the helicopters. Expensive restoration work on the marshland was avoided, and construction was faster by “more than a month.” Three more utility projects, together worth about $83 million, are scheduled to start construction in the fall, Loveland added. Two in Cape May County are out to bid, and another, to span both Atlantic and Ocean counties, will go to bid in July.

wiredInUSA - July 2020

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