Residents in East Baltimore’s Clifton Park neighborhood are poised to reap the benefits of an upgraded electric system — a project made possible by Baltimore Gas and Electric’s commitment to perform more than $100 million in infrastructure upgrades to the City’s aging conduit system.
Crews in Clifton Park are currently replacing the existing 4kV distribution system that delivers electricity to about 700 customers in the area with more robust 13kV lines. This increases capacity (the amount of electricity that can be served to an area) and will improve reliability by incorporating technologies that the 4kV lines are not able to handle, preventing outages and allowing faster restoration when interruptions occur.
This work must happen to meet the needs of communities today, which are more reliant on electricity than previous generations to power day-to-day essentials.
But BGE must first address limitations posed by the aging conduit system. The conduit, made primarily of brittle terracotta blocks, carries BGE’s electric cables along with communications wires necessary for phone and internet service and 9-1-1, and even ventilation between more than 10,000 manholes under the City’s sidewalks, streets, and alleys.
The vital services running through the conduit’s 700 miles are the infrastructure backbone that makes Baltimore City run, meaning the deteriorating system is a risk to all residents and must be fixed. Rebuilding the conduit with durable materials is also a mandatory step as the state of Maryland prepares for increased electrification in order to meet its net-zero carbon emissions goal by 2045.
BGE is also expanding the conduit with more ducts, providing added space to accommodate future needs, including additional electrification and communications advances such as fiber optics to increase broadband internet access in Baltimore City.
The entirety of BGE’s conduit infrastructure work is being performed by five local, diverse-certified contractors that have extensive experience working on the system.
In Clifton Park, residents will see benefits now. Previously, an outage on the 4kV system meant that all 700 customers would be interrupted until BGE was able to access the underground line, remove it, and then repair and replace it. If the conduit was damaged, restoration would take longer since conduit repairs would first have to happen before the electric job could be completed.
With the new 13kV system, distributed automation technologies mean that some outages will be restored remotely – and faster, meaning an issue that previously affected the entire area will now impact just a portion of the customers, or an outage will be avoided due to multiple power sources. In addition, upgraded conduit significantly lowers the risk of outages caused by wire damage from conduit collapse or other structural compromise, and BGE crews can access electric lines more quickly if repairs are necessary.
This project represents an important step towards modernizing Baltimore’s infrastructure and is just one of dozens across the City that will enable a more reliable, efficient, and future-ready system.
