Inside PSE&G's $30B plan to storm-proof the power grid

About this episode

This episode discusses PSE&G's response to Superstorm Sandy and their subsequent investments in storm-proofing the power grid.

Superstorm Sandy was a turning point for utilities in New Jersey. And for PSE&G, it became the catalyst for one of the most ambitious resilience and hardening efforts in the country. In this episode, host Kinsey Grant Baker sits down with Paul Toscarelli, VP of Electric Operations at PSE&G to revisit the storm’s impact, the operational realities of recovery, and how the company turned that experience into a long-term modernization and emergency preparedness playbook. Paul walks through what Sandy looked like on the ground, how the utility’s response priorities were shaped in the moment, and what immediate lessons changed the utility’s approach to business continuity, resilience planning, and system hardening. Now a decade from that moment, this conversation explores the scale of the investments that followed, including the elevation of dozens of substations and installation of thousands of smart switching devices. How did those investments hold up? How does today’s landscape of electrification, distributed energy, and AI-driven load growth all change that playbook? Paul answers these questions and more on what other utilities can learn from New Jersey’s experience when it comes…

People in this episode

Host: Kinsey Grant Baker

Guest: Paul Toscarelli

Topics covered

• power grid resilience
• utility modernization
• emergency preparedness
• storm recovery
• infrastructure investment

Keywords

• PSE&G
• Superstorm Sandy
• power grid
• resilience
• infrastructure
• emergency preparedness
• New Jersey

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: PSE&G

Places: New Jersey

More episodes of Energy Central

• When AI finally popped at Southern Company · April 24, 2026 · 52 min
• The utility's new tools to fight an old foe: wildfires · April 21, 2026 · 39 min
• Is geothermal finally happening? A DOE leader weighs in · April 14, 2026 · 33 min
• Inside a live-fire test of grid security · April 10, 2026 · 27 min
• Nuclear’s role in the grid of the future, according to Robert Bryce · April 7, 2026 · 45 min
• How drones are becoming critical infrastructure for utilities · April 3, 2026 · 46 min