PJM Interconnection Sees New Power Transmission and Distribution Projects

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The PJM Interconnection (Norristown, Pennsylvania), which coordinates the movement of electricity in 13 northeastern states and the District of Columbia, recently authorized $417 million in transmission and distribution (T&D) projects to improve reliability to the regional electrical grid. The PJM Interconnection board has approved $31.2 billion in T&D projects in the region since 2000 as part of the independent system operator's Regional Transmission Expansion Plan.

Industrial Info is tracking 342 T&D projects in the region valued at more than $17.5 billion. The top states of the 14 coordinated by the PJM Interconnection with T&D projects in development or under construction are:

• Ohio, with 56 projects valued at $2.77 billion
• Virginia, with 47 projects valued at $2.63 billion
• Michigan, with 31 projects valued at $2.53 billion
• New Jersey, with 24 projects valued at $2.43 billion
• Maryland, with 12 projects valued at $1.83 billion

The board also approved equipment upgrades and improvements in areas served by American Electric Power Company Incorporated (NYSE:AEP) (Columbus, Ohio), Atlantic City Electric Company (Atlantic City, New Jersey), PECO Energy Company (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Pennsylvania Electric Company (Akron, Ohio), American Transmission Systems (Akron), East Kentucky Power Cooperative (Winchester, Kentucky) and Dayton Power & Light (Dayton, Ohio).

The PJM Interconnection, the operator of North America's largest power grid, also is preparing to ensure reliable electric supply during this month's total solar eclipse, which happens on the afternoon of August 21. Solar power projects in the region will lose the sun from 1:30 pm to 3:40 pm EDT on that day, and the grid operator expects to lose up to 2,500 megawatts of solar generation. For more information on solar power in PJM, see February 6, 2017, article - Solar Power Projects Take in PJM Interconnection.

In May, the PJM Interconnection attracted a record number of projects in its annual capacity auction. The auction produced a record price of $76.53 per megawatt-day for resources in most of the PJM region and procured 165,109 megawatts (MW) of generation for the period of June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021. This was the first auction in which all generation resources had to meet capacity performance requirements and the first to have market participation by price responsive demand resources, which are demand response resources that react to market signals.

The auction attracted 2,350 MW of new gas-fired generation; 7,532 MW of demand response resources; 119 MW of solar resources; 504 MW of wind resources; and 1,710 MW of energy-efficiency resources.

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