Dive Brief:
- PJM Interconnection's board has approved more than $636 million in transmission projects that aim to strengthen the grid serving 61 million people, including the market's largest single efficiency project ever. The move comes after its board suspended the proposed Artificial Island transmission project earlier this week.
- In a statement this week, PJM said the $320 million market efficiency project is expected to save $622 million over the next 15 years.
- The board's decision pushes PJM's system improvements spending to $29 billion since the first Regional Transmission Expansion Plan was approved in 2000.
Dive Insight:
The largest efficiency project PJM has ever undertaken bubbled up from its competitive process for transmission improvements, and is expected to be complete by 2020.
"This is PJM's largest-ever market efficiency project, and we expect it will resolve a significant amount of the remaining transmission congestion in the eastern portion of PJM," said PJM President and CEO Andrew Ott.
AEP affiliate Transource Energy, Baltimore Gas & Electric and Allegheny Power will be responsible for most of the project construction, which aims to reduce transmission congestion across the Pennsylvania and Maryland border. Plans call for upgrading existing substations, construction of a pair of new substations, two new transmission lines and other improvements to existing lines.
In addition, PJM's board also approved more than $316 million in other projects to maintain the reliability of the regional electric transmission grid.
In December, the grid operator approved $490 million in new regional transmission projects.
The grid's Regional Transmission Expansion Plan targets system additions and improvements needed to keep power moving efficiently in the PJM territory, between the 13 states and the District of Columbia.
