The PJM Interconnection Board of Managers has authorized an immediate-need reliability project and changes to existing projects in the Regional Transmission Expansion Plan, PJM said on July 16.
Among the RTEP updates approved July 14 is a baseline immediate-need reliability project intended to energize the Bramah substation in York County, Pennsylvania.
The project will bring a new line in and out of the Bramah substation as part of the construction of the new Peach Bottom-Bramah-Delta York 500 kV line. The project is needed to enable the timely energization of the Bramah substation.
The Bramah substation is necessary to mitigate generator deliverability violations in the Peach Bottom-Conastone area and to provide needed upgrades to the Peach Bottom-Conastone 500 kV corridor. The local transmission owner, PECO, will be designated to conduct this work.
The Board also approved a number of scope and cost changes to existing projects, as detailed below.
Yeat 765 kV Relocation
As a component of the Valley Link Joshua Falls-to-Yeat transmission line project being built in Virginia by Transource, Dominion Energy and FirstEnergy, the Yeat substation will relocate further south by approximately 15 miles, reducing the Joshua Falls-Yeat 765 kV greenfield line to 115 miles (from the original 156 miles) and will no longer pass the planned Vontay substation. This scope change results in a cost decrease of $259.84 million.
500 kV Line North Ann-Thornburg-Bristers
Dominion Energy’s North Anna-Bristers 500 kV and 230 kV transmission line project has proposed the scope change to include using 5/2 structures – dual-circuit towers that can carry both 500 kV and 230 kV lines – instead of the originally planned single-circuit 500 kV towers.
The inclusion of 230 kV underbuilt capability enables reuse of existing structures, minimizes future environmental impacts and long term capital costs, and avoids extended outages on critical 500 kV facilities. This results in a cost increase of $90 million for a total of $661.63 million.
The RTEP, which takes place throughout the year, identifies needs of the grid up to 15 years into the future.
PJM’s RTEP analysis identifies system violations to reliability criteria and standards, determines the potential to improve the market efficiency and operational performance of the system, and incorporates any public policy requirements.
PJM then develops transmission system enhancements to be integrated into a regional solution set and reviews them with stakeholders through the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee (TEAC) before submitting recommendations to the PJM Board of Managers for consideration at its quarterly meetings.
Scope and/or cost changes to existing projects, together with cancellations of other projects including those related to the New Jersey State Agreement Approach, will result in a net decrease of about $1.2 billion, the grid operator said.
With these changes, RTEP projects will total approximately $69.6 billion since the first Board approvals in 2000.
