First, we need to set the proper mood. Click here before reading the rest of this post.
Today, PJM staff released the rest of their analyses of the PATH and MAPP projects.
PJM recommends that PATH (and MAPP) be cancelled due to there being NO NEED to construct the projects to ensure reliability.
"PJM staff will be recommending to the PJM Board at their Friday, August 24th, 2012 meeting to cancel the PATH Project."
PJM also issued a press release.
"The PJM transmission planning staff will recommend to the PJM Board that the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH) and the Mid Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP) lines be removed from PJM’s regional transmission plans. The recommendations are contained in slides posted today that will be presented tomorrow, Aug. 9, at a meeting of PJM’s the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee.
A media briefing for reporters will be held Thursday at 3:30 p.m. following the advisory committee meeting. Steve Herling, vice president – Planning, will offer comments and take questions. To register for the briefing, please call PJM News at 866-756-6397.
Grid conditions have changed since the lines were originally planned, and our updated analysis no longer shows a need for the lines to maintain grid stability.
– A slow economy has reduced the projected growth in the use of electricity.
– PJM’s most recent capacity auction added 4,900 megawatts (MW) of new generation and procured 14,833 MW of demand response.
– Although PJM’s analysis last year showed a diminished need for the two transmission lines the most responsible course was to wait to make a recommendation after analyzing the updated forecast of peak use of electricity (the load forecast), the results of the 2012 capacity auction and the effects on grid stability of the anticipated announcement of generation retirements (16,000 MW) due to environmental regulations.
PJM’s regional planning process looks 15 years into the future to determine necessary changes to the transmission system to keep power flows stable. Planners study long-term growth in electricity use, generating plant retirements, broader generation development patterns, such as integration of renewable energy resources, and demand response and energy efficiency resources.
Since PJM’s first regional transmission plan in 2000, the PJM Board has approved more than $24.3 billion in new transmission lines and improvements and upgrades to existing facilities.
Just this year, PJM staff recommended and the board approved $2.8 billion in electric transmission improvements including new lines needed to keep the grid stable as generating units are retired in response to environmental regulations.
The staff recommendation will be presented to the PJM Board’s Reliability Committee later this month."
The State Journal was right on top of the story. Click here to read Pam Kasey's story, PATH, likely canceled, cost $225 million.
All of the reasons PJM is now citing as reasons for cancelling (abandoning) the PATH Project are the very same reasons that PATH (and TrAIL) opponents have cited since the inception of the project in 2007. Perhaps PJM should also take a fresh look at the Susquehanna-Roseland project at this time, because we don't need that one either.
PJM's errors in determining "need" for the PATH Project have cost PJM's 60 million ratepayers $95M in expenses since 2008. In 2008, FERC granted PATH an incentive enabling the company to make a filing to recover the cost of its project from consumers in the event of abandonment. PATH needs to prove to FERC's satisfaction that the company had no fault in the abandonment and that all amounts proposed to be recovered were prudently incurred. PATH's current investment in the project totals slightly more than $130M. $95M of our money + $130M of PATH's investment that they will attempt to recover from us = $225M wasted on the PATH project.
Goodbye, PATH!
Read more to find out why PJM cancelled PATH and MAPP here!
Today, PJM staff released the rest of their analyses of the PATH and MAPP projects.
PJM recommends that PATH (and MAPP) be cancelled due to there being NO NEED to construct the projects to ensure reliability.
"PJM staff will be recommending to the PJM Board at their Friday, August 24th, 2012 meeting to cancel the PATH Project."
PJM also issued a press release.
"The PJM transmission planning staff will recommend to the PJM Board that the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH) and the Mid Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP) lines be removed from PJM’s regional transmission plans. The recommendations are contained in slides posted today that will be presented tomorrow, Aug. 9, at a meeting of PJM’s the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee.
A media briefing for reporters will be held Thursday at 3:30 p.m. following the advisory committee meeting. Steve Herling, vice president – Planning, will offer comments and take questions. To register for the briefing, please call PJM News at 866-756-6397.
Grid conditions have changed since the lines were originally planned, and our updated analysis no longer shows a need for the lines to maintain grid stability.
– A slow economy has reduced the projected growth in the use of electricity.
– PJM’s most recent capacity auction added 4,900 megawatts (MW) of new generation and procured 14,833 MW of demand response.
– Although PJM’s analysis last year showed a diminished need for the two transmission lines the most responsible course was to wait to make a recommendation after analyzing the updated forecast of peak use of electricity (the load forecast), the results of the 2012 capacity auction and the effects on grid stability of the anticipated announcement of generation retirements (16,000 MW) due to environmental regulations.
PJM’s regional planning process looks 15 years into the future to determine necessary changes to the transmission system to keep power flows stable. Planners study long-term growth in electricity use, generating plant retirements, broader generation development patterns, such as integration of renewable energy resources, and demand response and energy efficiency resources.
Since PJM’s first regional transmission plan in 2000, the PJM Board has approved more than $24.3 billion in new transmission lines and improvements and upgrades to existing facilities.
Just this year, PJM staff recommended and the board approved $2.8 billion in electric transmission improvements including new lines needed to keep the grid stable as generating units are retired in response to environmental regulations.
The staff recommendation will be presented to the PJM Board’s Reliability Committee later this month."
The State Journal was right on top of the story. Click here to read Pam Kasey's story, PATH, likely canceled, cost $225 million.
All of the reasons PJM is now citing as reasons for cancelling (abandoning) the PATH Project are the very same reasons that PATH (and TrAIL) opponents have cited since the inception of the project in 2007. Perhaps PJM should also take a fresh look at the Susquehanna-Roseland project at this time, because we don't need that one either.
PJM's errors in determining "need" for the PATH Project have cost PJM's 60 million ratepayers $95M in expenses since 2008. In 2008, FERC granted PATH an incentive enabling the company to make a filing to recover the cost of its project from consumers in the event of abandonment. PATH needs to prove to FERC's satisfaction that the company had no fault in the abandonment and that all amounts proposed to be recovered were prudently incurred. PATH's current investment in the project totals slightly more than $130M. $95M of our money + $130M of PATH's investment that they will attempt to recover from us = $225M wasted on the PATH project.
Goodbye, PATH!
Read more to find out why PJM cancelled PATH and MAPP here!
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