The PJM Interconnection board approved $5.9 billion in new transmission projects to bolster reliability across the grid operator’s footprint, PJM said Wednesday. That, combined with changes to the scope and cost of existing projects, mean PJM’s latest Regional Transmission Expansion Plan is set to cost $6.7 billion, according to the grid operator for 13 mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states and the District of Columbia.
The Regional Transmission Expansion Plan, approved Tuesday, contains a modified version of a proposal to build a 765-kV, multistate transmission backbone offered by American Electric Power, Dominion Energy Virginia and FirstEnergy. This roughly $4.6 billion set of projects, which includes 500-kV facilities, aims to bolster west-east regional power transfers, according to PJM staff analysis of its recommended plan.
The plan calls for the companies to build 260 miles of 765-kV transmission line between Putnam County, West Virginia, and Frederick County, Maryland, and a roughly 155-mile, 765-kV transmission line between Campbell County, Virginia, and Fauquier County, Virginia, according to AEP.
AEP estimates that its share of the projects its Transource transmission subsidiary will build will cost $1.1 billion. PJM’s plan also includes about $600 million in projects AEP utilities will build in Indiana, Ohio and Virginia.
“The proposals resolve critical west-east regional transfer reinforcement needs by introducing 765 kV transmission lines connecting the AEP system in the western portion of the PJM footprint with the rest of the network in the central and southern parts of PJM, primarily Virginia,” the grid operator said in a press release.
The board on Tuesday also approved a revised cost estimate — $1.5 billion, up from $739 million — for transmission additions PJM needs to allow Talen Energy to retire its coal-fired Brandon Shores power plant in Maryland. Exelon subsidiaries Baltimore Gas and Electric, PECO Energy and Potomac Edison will be the projects’ primary builders.
Higher costs of long-lead equipment, changes resulting from detailed design and engineering plans, constructability reviews, additional contracting resources and the significant volume and complexity of work are driving the cost increase, PJM said.
“These projects address accelerated load growth in various areas of the PJM region, changes in the mix of generation resources and the resulting shifts to regional power flows,” the grid operator said about the overall plan. “The forecasted demand growth is driven in part by data center load additions and the electrification of vehicles and building heating systems.”
The approval of PJM’s transmission plan comes amid rising equipment prices and supply-chain challenges that are hindering transmission development, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Energy Agency.
“Permitting remains the primary cause of delays in transmission projects, particularly in advanced economies, but supply of cables, transformers, materials and other components is also becoming a limiting factor,” the IEA said.
It takes two to three years to procure cables and up to four years to obtain large power transformers, about twice as long compared with wait times in 2021, and it can take more than five years to secure direct current cables, the agency said.
