By David Beard, The Dominion Post
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Last week, it was reported that as part of a national power grid assessment, the U.S. Department of Energy identified the mid-Atlantic region – including Monongalia, Preston and Marion counties – as an area where “there is significant need for increased within-region transmission capacity in PJM to maintain and improve reliability and resilience, lower consumer costs, and meet future generation and demand growth.”
As part of that reporting on DOE’s National Interest Electric Transmission Corridor Phase 2 report, The Dominion Post submitted questions to PJM – the 13-state regional transmission organization – and local area power supplier FirstEnergy, parent company of Mon Power.
Mon Power replied late last week and PJM submitted its response on Monday.
We reported last week that DOE’s NIETC proposes for the mid-Atlantic a number of parallel corridor sections, about 2 miles wide and up to 180 miles long, where transmission and generation could be beefed up to increase resiliency and reliability and meet growing future demand. The report shows five corridor portions passing through or immediately adjacent to the local three-county area.
A NIETC, DOE explains, “is a geographic area where, based on its triennial National Transmission Needs Study or other relevant information, DOE has identified present or expected transmission capacity constraints or congestion that adversely affects consumers, and that has been designated by the Secretary of Energy as a NIETC.”
FirstEnergy told us last week it is “committed to enhancing the transmission system to make it more resilient, reduce future maintenance costs and increase flexibility to help grid operators respond more swiftly to variable conditions.
