The MidAtlantic Resiliency Link, or MARL, transmission project has been assigned by PJM Interconnection to two different transmission builders. NextEra is assigned to build the majority of it, but FirstEnergy ended up with the portion that runs through Frederick County, VA and Jefferson County, WV.
Long ago, even before PJM ordered MARL, NextEra filed an application for transmission incentives with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC approved them back in January. Nobody bothered to get involved and comment or protest.
Everyone's been treading water, waiting to get more information, but neither NextEra or FirstEnergy has held public meetings to share information with impacted communities. Seems like nobody is in a hurry at all.
Remember that when PJM ordered MARL, it said the project was needed to be operating by June 1, 2027 or else there would be darkness.
Back in May, FirstEnergy finally got around to requesting transmission incentives for its portion of the MARL. It asked FERC to grant it the abandoned plant incentive. Grant of the abandoned plant incentive begins the tally of project costs that can be recovered if the project is abandoned (cancelled) before being built. Anything FirstEnergy spends before receiving this incentive is only eligible to be recovered at 50%. That would mean that FirstEnergy could only collect half of the money it spends on MARL in the case of abandonment. The other half would come out of FirstEnergy's pocket. Fitting, don't you think, since FirstEnergy insisted on being assigned this portion that rebuilds and expands lines FirstEnergy already owns? However, that's not what FirstEnergy asked FERC for... it asked FERC to allow it to recover 100% of whatever it has spent (plus interest) if the project is abandoned.
FERC Commissioner Mark Christie is at war against certain transmission incentives. FERC opened a rulemaking to examine and revise its incentives more than 4 years ago, but has punted it to the side without action, allowing the overly generous incentives to continue.
I'm taking this opportunity to object to FirstEnergy's request for the abandoned plant incentive. Do they really need it, since they were so eager to have this project that they engineered some secret deal behind the scenes at PJM?
NextEra's cost cap for MARL (as crappy as it is) did not transfer to FirstEnergy when it took over this section of the project. FirstEnergy can and will spend however much it wants... currently estimated at $341M for a very short "rebuild" segment. How much will they actually spend, and how soon will they spend it? How much spending is planned *before* state approvals, which if denied can cause abandonment? FERC should place a limit on running up the spending before project approval.
These are the comments I submitted to FERC.
Long ago, even before PJM ordered MARL, NextEra filed an application for transmission incentives with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC approved them back in January. Nobody bothered to get involved and comment or protest.
Everyone's been treading water, waiting to get more information, but neither NextEra or FirstEnergy has held public meetings to share information with impacted communities. Seems like nobody is in a hurry at all.
Remember that when PJM ordered MARL, it said the project was needed to be operating by June 1, 2027 or else there would be darkness.
Back in May, FirstEnergy finally got around to requesting transmission incentives for its portion of the MARL. It asked FERC to grant it the abandoned plant incentive. Grant of the abandoned plant incentive begins the tally of project costs that can be recovered if the project is abandoned (cancelled) before being built. Anything FirstEnergy spends before receiving this incentive is only eligible to be recovered at 50%. That would mean that FirstEnergy could only collect half of the money it spends on MARL in the case of abandonment. The other half would come out of FirstEnergy's pocket. Fitting, don't you think, since FirstEnergy insisted on being assigned this portion that rebuilds and expands lines FirstEnergy already owns? However, that's not what FirstEnergy asked FERC for... it asked FERC to allow it to recover 100% of whatever it has spent (plus interest) if the project is abandoned.
FERC Commissioner Mark Christie is at war against certain transmission incentives. FERC opened a rulemaking to examine and revise its incentives more than 4 years ago, but has punted it to the side without action, allowing the overly generous incentives to continue.
I'm taking this opportunity to object to FirstEnergy's request for the abandoned plant incentive. Do they really need it, since they were so eager to have this project that they engineered some secret deal behind the scenes at PJM?
NextEra's cost cap for MARL (as crappy as it is) did not transfer to FirstEnergy when it took over this section of the project. FirstEnergy can and will spend however much it wants... currently estimated at $341M for a very short "rebuild" segment. How much will they actually spend, and how soon will they spend it? How much spending is planned *before* state approvals, which if denied can cause abandonment? FERC should place a limit on running up the spending before project approval.
These are the comments I submitted to FERC.
| er2401998.pdf |
And here's the worst part! As part of their filing, FirstEnergy included a copy of its acceptance letter of PJM's designation of a portion of the MARL. In their acceptance, FirstEnergy has changed the in-service dates for its portion of the MARL. The Virginia portions (both in Frederick and Loudoun counties) are supposed to be in-service by June 1, 2028, delayed a year from the date PJM said they were needed. The in-service date for the West Virginia portion in Jefferson County is delayed until June 1, 2030. That's right... 2030! MARL is not planned to be completed and transmitting energy until 2030! That's six years from now! Are Virginia's data centers going to hang around waiting to build and be connected to the electric grid for another 6 years?
NO! They won't wait. They will go somewhere else where they can build a data center and get electric service before 2030. The bottom may be about to fall out of Virginia's data center craze.
Here's what FirstEnergy's acceptance letter looks like:
NO! They won't wait. They will go somewhere else where they can build a data center and get electric service before 2030. The bottom may be about to fall out of Virginia's data center craze.
Here's what FirstEnergy's acceptance letter looks like:
| potomac_edison_designated_entity_acceptance_letter.pdf |
Once the in-service date for PJM's transmission projects starts slipping, it often keeps slipping... right off into oblivion. It can be delayed if expected load doesn't show up (but goes elsewhere). It can be delayed if the utilities run into permitting problems, such as taking a state denial in a NIETC to FERC for permitting. It can be delayed if the utilities have difficulty procuring project components; there is a huge supply chain issue for transmission components right now. It can be delayed if there are issues with land acquisition. It can (and will) be delayed even further. And, as I said in my comments...
MARL’s in-service date is already slipping. Why is that relevant? Because the electric grid abhors a vacuum. When a planned transmission (or generation) project fails to come online when needed, other projects will take its place. That’s exactly what happened with the PATH project, and what is likely to happen with the MARL project, including the Potomac Edison portion that is the subject of this filing.
Giving these transmission companies the greenlight to spend as much of our money as they want before they finally abandon MARL many years in the future is not just and reasonable.
This transmission project may never happen, but PJM and the utilities involved feel they should pursue it anyhow. Is that because there are no other options? Or is it because there’s no harm done to them if it fails. All the burden of failure falls on ratepayers, and this encourages the utilities to take more of a chance than they would it they had some skin in the game. Utilities shoulder no risk, while collecting all the rewards.
Consumers have zero control over the project’s risk factors, but they are the ones left holding the bag when it fails. As consumers, we simply cannot afford to continue to financially cover the failures of grid planners and transmission developers simply because we are the one entity without a voice in incentive awards.
FirstEnergy has asked FERC to approve its incentive request before July 15. Once consumers have thus insured the reimbursement of FirstEnergy's project spending, then maybe FirstEnergy can actually start working on MARL.
But what happens if FERC doesn't grant this incentive? Will FirstEnergy still want to build its part of the MARL? Or will it have to go back to PJM for revision?
Stay tuned...
But what happens if FERC doesn't grant this incentive? Will FirstEnergy still want to build its part of the MARL? Or will it have to go back to PJM for revision?
Stay tuned...
RSS Feed