Legalectric

A little birdie asked a question about need for Susquehanna-Roseland recently, and got me thinking.  This PJM press release came out a while ago and I forgot to post it.  It’s a legit PJM press release with an astonishing and crucial and decidedly “against interest” admission:

THEY ARE NOT USING DEMAND RESPONSE TO REDUCE LOAD!!!

Well, that makes business sense, they’re there to sell power, why refrain from selling it if they can!  They’re also wanting to build more transmission, which they can’t do if they can’t prove need!  And what better way to prove need than having a record peak demand?  But we know what they’re doing…  How many MW do they have in demand response, DSM, interruptibles, demand reduction by any name?  How much lower would the peak demand be if they had used it as they should?

Here’s their press release:

PJM and members set new record for peak power use

And here’s that telling admission:

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

… once more with feeling…

Demand response was not called on to reduce load.

How dare they… and then to claim a “RECORD” peak demand…

DUH! We all know what the point of the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission is, PSEG! Back during the Susquehanna Roseland hearing, I introduced a FERC filing reflecting the 660MW transfer across the river to New York, that was what, a year and a half ago now?

Ex. 12 – STL D 16c – FERC Compliance Filing

So how is this Firm Transmission Withdrawal Rights for 685MW and 330 MW is news?  The NJ BPU was NOT in the dark about this…

Now where’s that other 670MW… Exhibit 96…  it’s in here somewhere… here’s a post from November, 2009:

How far down does electrical demand have to go…

Here’s yesterday’s piece from the New Jersey Spotlight:

Federal Agency OK’s Power Transfer from New Jersey to New York

Interconnect likely to lead to higher electricity prices and greater congestion on the grid — along with possible summer blackouts

By Tom Johnson, June 30 in Energy & Environment

New Jersey has lost another battle with federal regulators, a setback likely to lead to higher electricity prices for consumers in the state.

Over the protests of the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Monday approved an interconnection request to allow 660 megawatts of power to be transferred from the Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G) Ridgefield substation to a Consolidated Edison West 49th Street substation in Manhattan.

Beyond increasing energy and capacity prices for ratepayers here, the state agency argued the interconnection would negatively affect reliability in northern New Jersey, which is already projected to face the possibility of brownouts beginning in summer 2012.

By drawing power from New Jersey, opponents of the project argue it will increase congestion, driving up the cost of power and capacity. Power suppliers receive capacity payments to have power plants in reserve to deliver electricity at times of peak demand.

The power line to the lucrative New York City market is being developed by Hudson Transmission Partners LLC.

New Jersey has found itself in an increasingly combative relationship with the federal agency. Because of high energy costs, the state approved a pilot program to have ratepayers subsidize the development of three natural gas-fired power plants. But as the state’s filing noted, that effort will be impeded by actions taken by the federal agency governing how power plants bid in capacity auctions.

The state had sought either to have the agency reject the interconnection agreement between Hudson, the New York Independent System Operator and Con Ed or to hold a proceeding to debate the issue.

In rejecting the state’s request, the federal agency ruled the sole issue in the matter involved the interconnection agreement, saying reliability and other concerns had been addressed in prior proceedings.

Greg Reinert, a spokesman for the BPU, said the agency is disappointed with the decision. “It imperils further our system, and its reliability.” He also said it seems inconsistent with recent rules adopted by FERC. In the past year, state regulatory officials have grown increasingly frustrated with actions taken by FERC and the PJM Interconnection, which operates the regional power grid serving more than 50 million people. They have intervened in a number of cases, including efforts by PSE&G to obtain special incentive rates for transmission projects they are developing, as well as a proposed natural gas pipeline that would run through Jersey City and into New York City.

The application for the Potomac Appalachian Transmission Highline, PATH, has been withdrawn.  Notice was just sent out, not long after PJM issued a press release saying that PATH was “delayed.”

PJM’s PATH “delay” Press Release 2-28-2011

And here’s the one we’ve been waiting for, Potomac Edison’s Notice of Withdrawal (that didn’t take long!):

PATH – Notice of Withdrawal

I’m looking on the PJM website, and can’t find the 2010 RTEP, so I call the number on the bottom of the Press Release, 866-756-6397,  wanting to know where the 2010 RTEP is (one of the attorneys on the Susquehanna-Roseland line had asked about that, and I was stunned I couldn’t find it!!!), and when the 2011 RTEP is due out.  No one can help, they’re in a meeting, “anyone that could help you is in a meeting.”  Someone will call back… Uh-huh… right…

What they say is what we’ve been saying for how long?

PJM annually reviews its transmission expansion plans. A preliminary analysis suggests that the need for the line has moved further into the future. Therefore, the PJM Board has decided to hold the PATH project in abeyance in the 2011 Regional Transmission Expansion Plan (RTEP). The preliminary analysis used the most current economic forecasts, demand response commitments and potential new generation.
…
Over the last two years, the recession and the dramatic change in the economic outlook caused PJM to forecast lower growth in the use of electricity. Growth in the use of electricity correlates with economic growth. The forecasted slower growth rate likely will delay the need for the line.

So now, how to find that 2010 RTEP???

Nearly two years ago, I attended a hearing for the Delmarva Power Integrated Resource Plan, which was the most bizarre hearing I’ve ever experienced.  At that time, I raised issues about decreasing demand, entered into the record the PJM demand documents that we’d used in the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission docket in New Jersey (also PJM), and raised concerns that no SAIDI, SAIFI and CAIDI reliability info was reported.  After that meeting, I presented Delmarva Power’s attorney Todd Goodman with a well-deserved “Horse’s Ass” award for his performance at that meeting.  The points I’d raised at that meeting about what was missing in their “IRP” were oh-so-valid:

Transcript – Delmarva IRP Hearing December 3 2008

It took a while, but last week, the Washington Post featured an article showing that PEPCO, utility in D.C. and Maryland, and the corporate parent of Delmarva Power, has an inexcusably miserable record for outages.   That’s something that’s demonstrated in the SAIDI, SAIFI and CAIDI reports!  And folks, don’t go conflating transmission with distribution as the cause for the outages, as utilities would have you do.  Anyway, here’s that article:

Washington Post Analysis: Why PEPCO can’t keep the lights on

PEPCO executives acknowledge need to improve reliability

As you read the article, note there’s not a word on D-E-R-E-G-U-L-A-T-I-O-N as a contributory factor, much less the primary reason.

Washington Post analysis: Why Pepco can’t keep the lights on

By Joe Stephens and Mary Pat Flaherty
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, December 5, 2010; 12:38 AM

In high-powered Washington, one of the world’s most wired and connected metro areas, the region’s leading electric company has trouble just keeping the lights on.

Pepco delivers power to 778,000 customers in the District and neighboring parts of Maryland, including some of the most affluent communities and most important institutions in the nation. But in reliability studies, the company ranks near the bottom in keeping the power on and bringing it back once it goes out, an analysis by The Washington Post has found.

In fact, the average Pepco customer experienced 70 percent more outages than customers of other big city utilities that took part in one 2009 survey. And the lights stayed out more than twice as long.

Pepco’s reliability began declining five years ago, records show; company officials acknowledge that they have known of the problem but that they only started to focus on it more recently.

Moreover, Pepco has long blamed trees as a primary culprit for the frequency and duration of its outages, implying that the problem is beyond its control. But that explanation does not hold up under scrutiny, The Post analysis found. By far, Pepco equipment failures, not trees, caused the most sustained power interruptions last year.
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Friday the National Park Service said NO to the Stillwater Bridge across the Wild & Scenic St. Croix River.

This is the same NPS, but a different region, that has the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line crossing of the Wild & Scenic Delaware Water Gap under review.

This Stillwater Bridge mess has been a decades long struggle.

When I heard about this on Friday, I started looking for the primary documentation, and couldn’t even find a press release.  Then this a.m., a little birdie sent the press release…

NPS Stillwater Bridge Press Release 10-15-10

… but alas, he had no primary documentation either!  And so onward with the search, and still nothing, then, lo, another birdie dropped these into my inbox:

National Park Service – Transmittal Letter

National Park Service – Stillwater Bridge – Section 7a Review Final

Is there a trend?  We can only hope…