Project Overview
Overview
In June 2006, the PJM Board approved a five-year plan designed to maintain the reliability of the transmission grid in the PJM region, including the Allegheny Power transmission zone. The plan includes construction of a new 500-kilovolt transmission line and related substation facilities within Allegheny Power’s transmission zone. This project has been named the Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line (TrAIL).
Specifically, Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line Company (TrAILCo), a subsidiary of Allegheny Energy Inc., will build a new 500-kV transmission line extending from Southwestern Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Northern Virginia. The project is necessary to meet the growing demand for electricity in the Mid-Atlantic region that may cause overloading on Allegheny Power’s transmission system. If these potential problems are not addressed, it could result in blackouts, rolling blackouts and brownouts for customers in Allegheny Power’s transmission zone as early as 2011.
The project has a targeted completion date of June 2011. The cost estimate for TrAILCo’s portion of the project is $820 million.
We investigated several alternate routes for the line by gathering data on land use, environmental constraints and other important factors. We determined the route after careful study, which included consideration of feedback received at public open houses. TrAILCo hosted 10 public open houses and two informational meetings attended by 2,200 people along the route. Valuable public feedback from the open houses and hundreds of written comments was also considered in the selection of the line route.
We filed applications in the spring of 2007, seeking authorization from the necessary state regulatory commissions to build the line. In fall of 2007, public input hearings were held to allow for interested parties to comment on the line. Evidentiary hearings were conducted in early 2008, and state regulators in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia approved construction of the line later in the year.
Project Benefits
Allegheny operates on a key principle: providing reliable electric service. Benefits of the TrAIL project include:
- improving system reliability;
- meeting the growing demand for electricity;
- increasing west-to-east transfer capability, making cost-effective generation available to more consumers; and
- economic benefits for West Virginia and Southwestern Pennsylvania, including expanding markets for local coal, more jobs and the potential for new generation projects including clean-coal technologies and renewables, such as wind and hydro.
The Need for Transmission Expansion
Throughout the PJM region, the demand for electricity has increased significantly, while the transmission infrastructure has not increased at a proportional pace. This has led to greater reliability risks and higher prices for consumers. Due to the growth in demand for electricity, additional transmission lines are needed to improve the grid’s reliability and transfer power from where it is generated to where it is needed.
Regulatory Approvals
In spring 2007, TrAILCo, filed for authorization to build the line with state utility commissions in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.
West Virginia
After a thorough and extensive public process, the Public Service Commission of West Virginia approved construction of TrAIL in August 2008 subject to certain conditions, including:
- modifications of the line route south of Morgantown known as the Grafton Area Route;
- the relocation of 100 to 150 managerial, professional, technical and administrative jobs to a new facility in Fairmont, W. Va.;
- $5 million in contributions from TrAILCo to fund energy conservation programs and assistance plans for low-income customers in West Virginia; and
- agreement that Monongahela Power and Potomac Edison will not seek recovery in West Virginia of the transmission charges associated with TrAIL (estimated to be more than $31 million) for at least a seven-year period beginning from January 2007.
Petitions for reconsideration of the West Virginia approval are currently pending.
Virginia
In October 2008, the Virginia State Corporation Commission authorized construction of the Virginia segments of TrAIL. In its ruling, the Commission agreed with the recommended decision of a Virginia hearing examiner that the 500-kV line is needed to resolve transmission system overloads projected to occur as soon as 2011. In Virginia, the line will run about 28 miles through Frederick and Warren counties, generally adjacent to other transmission lines, to an interconnection point with Dominion Virginia Power. Dominion will extend the line from that point to its Loudoun Substation in Loudoun County. Judicial review of the Virginia approval is currently pending.
Pennsylvania
In November 2008, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved construction of a 1.2-mile segment of TrAIL extending south from the new 502 Junction substation in Greene County to the West Virginia border. This segment is the starting point for the 215-mile transmission line that will traverse parts of West Virginia and extend into Northern Virginia. Judicial review of the Pennsylvania approval is currently pending.
As requested by TrAILCo, the Pennsylvania Commission deferred its decision on a proposed 36-mile segment of TrAIL extending north from the 502 Junction substation into central Washington County. This section was designed to address local reliability issues. TrAILCo is engaged in a collaborative process with public officials and other interested stakeholders to identify potential alternatives to resolve local reliability issues anticipated to occur in Washington County by 2009.
Next Steps
TrAILCo is continuing its pre-construction activities, such as right-of-way acquisition, permitting and engineering activities in all three states. Construction of the line will begin when TrAILCo has secured the necessary permits and approvals from federal and state authorities. Clearing, grading and other work is underway on utility-owned property at the 502 Junction substation site in Pennsylvania and Meadowbrook substation in Virginia.
The construction phase will last about two-and-a-half years, with TrAIL targeted for completion by June 2011. Allegheny is committed to working with landowners, neighboring residents, business owners and regulators to balance all interests in an effort to minimize environmental and land-use impacts.
Project Schedule
Click on the image above to enlarge.
