PJM Board Approves Annual Grid Upgrade Plan

    The PJM Interconnection Board has authorized an additional $1.4 billion in electric transmission systems additions and upgrades throughout the grid that serves 51 million people in 13 states and the District of Columbia. The upgrades are required to keep electricity flowing and ensure the power supply system meets national standards through 2024. "There's nothing more essential to our business than planning for and achieving the infrastructure needed to ensure the reliable power supplies consumers expect," said PJM President and CEO Terry Boston. "The upgrades that the Board has approved represent dozens of projects that individually and collectively maintain the reliability of the power system." The upgrades authorized by the PJM Board since 2000, including the most recent approvals, total more than $14.7 billion in investment. They result from PJM's Regional Transmission Expansion Planning process which evaluates electric transmission changes and needs over a 15-year horizon. This plan allows time to make the necessary infrastructure upgrades and improvements and to adjust to ever changing needs. The current regional plan reaffirms the need for several major transmission line projects that the board previously had authorized to address power supply problems. These so-called "transmission backbone" projects are:

  • Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line (TrAIL), 502 Junction to Loudon. Construction is well under way on TrAIL, and it will be in service in 2011. This 500-kilovolt (kV) transmission line will run from near the border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia to northern Virginia. .
  • Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, (PATH), Amos to Kemptown. This 765-kV transmission line will extend about 300 miles from the Amos Substation in West Virginia to the Kemptown Substation in Maryland.
  • Susquehanna to Roseland. This 500-kV line will run approximately 130 miles from northern Pennsylvania to northern New Jersey.
  • Mid Atlantic Power Pathway Project (MAPP). This 500-kV line will connect the Possum Point Substation in Virginia to Indian River Substation on the Delmarva Peninsula.
In addition to the studies to determine what transmission additions and upgrades are necessary to ensure reliability, the PJM planning process included 195 studies that evaluated the impact of adding new generation on the system. Studies of other projects remain underway as PJM continually analyzes regional transmission needs. The PJM Board periodically reviews proposed updates to the regional transmission plan.