RG&E Completes Upgrades in Clarksville, Wirt and Friendship

Resiliency investments to bring enhanced reliability to approximately 765 customers

ROCHESTER, NY — May 25, 2021 — Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) announced today that it recently completed circuit upgrades in the towns of Clarksville, Wirt and Friendship on the company’s 7702 circuit, which delivers power to customers’ homes and businesses. Construction took place throughout the towns and hamlet, including on Country Roads 31A and 40, Route 275 and Pleasant Valley Road. Now complete, the project will bring enhanced reliability to 765 customers. 

The project is part of the company’s Resiliency Program which proactively hardens the company’s systems to continue providing safe and reliable service to all customers. Its primary goals were to make the grid more reliable and facilitate an effective and efficient response should outages occur. This was achieved by upgrading equipment on the circuit, including installing nine devices to protect the system from day-to-day impacts, such as small limbs or branches. The project also replaced seven poles that had an average age of 75 years. The new poles have a larger diameter to be more resilient to wind damage.  

“RG&E is committed to continued investments to improve our systems and to ensure its resiliency against future storm events,” said Michelle McDonald, Manager of Resiliency Field Projects at RG&E. “This circuit in Clarksville, Wirt and Friendship is located along rural roads where most of the infrastructure is single-phase to support local power needs. The new devices that we installed are specifically designed to support this type of system. These proactive upgrades will help provide more reliable service for our customers and potentially shorten the outage duration.”   

RG&E is a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. 


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About RG&E: Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation (RG&E) is a subsidiary of AVANGRID, Inc. Established in 1848, RG&E operates approximately 8,800 miles of electric distribution lines and 1,100 miles of electric transmission lines. It also operates approximately 10,600 miles of natural gas distribution pipelines and 105 miles of gas transmission pipelines. It serves approximately 378,500 electricity customers and 313,000 natural gas customers in a nine-county region in New York surrounding the City of Rochester. For more information, visit rge.com.

About AVANGRID: AVANGRID, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) is a leading, sustainable energy company with approximately $36 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states. With headquarters in Orange, Connecticut, AVANGRID has two primary lines of business: Avangrid Networks and Avangrid Renewables. Avangrid Networks owns eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Avangrid Renewables owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. AVANGRID employs approximately 6,600 people. AVANGRID supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2019 and 2020 by the Ethisphere Institute. For more information, visit avangrid.com.

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