Breaker failure at the Ascutney substation would result in unacceptable voltage and thermal performance locally. The transmission solution examined in the analysis conducted thus far is to improve the Ascutney substation from the current radial bus configuration to a breaker-and-a-half configuration with 115 kV capacitor banks and a second 115/46 kV transformer. This is primarily a bulk system issue that is the responsibility of VELCO and CVPS. The planning study has not yet begun and will be undertaken in the 2009 study cycle.
The map on the left shows roughly the area of Vermont potentially affected by this reliability deficiency.