The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

June 18, 2010

Developers say West Virginia to Maryland power line needed by June 2015

Associated Press

CHARLESTON — The developers of a proposed power line from West Virginia to Maryland said Friday that the 275-mile project must be completed by June 1, 2015, to ensure the Mid-Atlantic region has the electricity it needs.

Development of the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, or PATH, has been on hold as the utilities building the line reassess future demand in the region.

Allegheny Energy Inc., of Greensburg, Pa., and American Electric Power Co., of Columbus, Ohio, said Friday that based on an assessment conducted by PJM Interconnection, the line must be in service by June 2015. PJM manages the electrical grid system for a 13-state region.

“All analysis to date indicates that the PATH project remains the most robust and effective means to ensure the long-term reliability of the PJM grid,” Steven Herling, PJM’s vice president for planning, said in a release issued by the utilities.

PJM authorized the line in 2007, but it was delayed last year after the Maryland Public Service Commission rejected an application to build the line through a 20-mile stretch in that state.

Regulatory consideration of applications filed in West Virginia and Virginia were then delayed. In West Virginia, the state Public Service Commission said it wanted electrical demand studies to be updated before it would continue its review.

In an order issued earlier this month, the PSC said it would conduct the first hearings on the application next Jan. 10. A decision is expected by May 2011.

Opponents of the line argue that electrical demand projections are inaccurate and the line would only serve to continue the use of coal for electrical generation.

The 765-kilovolt power line is to run from AEP’s coal-fired John Amos plant in West Virginia, across parts of northern Virginia, to a substation near Kemptown, Md.

 

Text Only
Local News