Energy Use Down: Grid Operator Reconsiders Massive Transmission Project

As the effects of a still sluggish economy drive down electricity use and consumers have more and better ways to conserve, it makes sense for power providers to step back and take a hard look at how the energy future is changing and what they're going to do about it.

PJM Interconnection, a regional grid operator, has dropped back to re-evaluate a proposed high-voltage transmission line project after refiguring its forecast for future energy use. It's looking at when new lines would need to be built, if ever, and other options.

Electricity demand is down, energy efficiency is up and previous guesstimates about how fast demand for power would grow have dropped dramatically. The U.S. Energy Information Agency says that demand will grow at a rate of 1% annually through 2035, which is about half the growth projected five years ago.

Utilities have for the past few years been designing the Virginia to New Jersey line to bring in coal-generated power from the Midwest. But until PJM decides its next moves, those plans are in a holding pattern.

PJM is a regional transmission company that manages the electric grid for 13 states and the District of Columbia. It oversees about 56,000 miles of lines and has 51 million customers.

Quoted in the News Journal's Delaware Online, PJM's Steven Herling, VP of planning, said a number of forces will affect the company's decisions, among them the ability of utilities to cut peak demand, the unexpected growth of renewable energy and expected pollution restrictions that are kicking older coal plants to the curb faster than expected.

He said the review should be wrapped up this summer and could result in some route or construction date changes or "an entirely different set of solutions."

A spokesman for Pepco Holdings, the parent company for Delaware's Delmarva Power, said the company is continuing with its design work, but is holding back until PJM makes its move. The project would cost the utility's customers about $1.2 billion if it is built.

Opponents of the New Jersey stretch of the high-voltage line are naturally pretty happy with PJM's decision. Carol Overland, an attorney representing those opponents, said the move provides an opportunity to get away from fossil fuels, develop infrastructure around local renewable energy projects — and keep the lines out of back yards.

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