Neighbors Dislike Power Lines but Need the Electricity
PPL Electric Utilities is proposing some power
lines in northeastern Pennsylvania. The would-be
project is not going over too well with neighbors.
That’s to be expected. Such deals are never easy.
Still, by everyone’s standards, the lines are
necessary. It’s just that the path they would take
is not.
Transmission projects are seldom welcome. But the
electricity that flows from them is vital. After
all, the need for more wires that are in tune with a
digital society is obvious while an uptick in power
demand is also forthcoming. Yet, the regulatory
process is extremely arduous.
While such rigor is meant to ensure that the
permitting process is transparent and full of
integrity, it creates logjams that perpetuate
uncertainty. That is, investors are skeptical about
supplying capital because they can make more money
in alternative investments while the delays impede
reliability. And if brownouts or rolling blackouts
occur, there can be a lot of economic harm.
“Infrastructure remains the key to future growth,”
says Chuck Leonard, executive director of the Pocono
Mountains Economic Development, in support of PPL.
“The electrical requirements of job-creating
industries grow each year. Our region’s ability to
compete for the jobs of the future is tied directly
to the increased capacity and improved reliability.”
Economic activity has slowed there in recent times,
but the region is expecting growth. PPL says that
the affected customers are now served by a network
of smaller power lines, which are inadequate to
meeting the needs of 250,000 customers who live in
that region. Reliability and economic vibrancy are
at stake; the lines can't handle the demands placed
on them.
Specifically, PPL would like to build three
substations as well as a 57 mile wire that is
230-kilovolts, or considerably greater than the
smaller ones now used. Smaller lines would also be
needed to connect to the substations. Lastly, the
utility would have to acquire property rights and
erect145 feet steel towers.
Building Consensus
Six counties would be impacted by the project.
Citizens there, however, are calling the pathway
“intrusive.” They are also saying that while their
region would host those unsightly towers and wires,
it would be New York and New Jersey that would get
the added electricity reliability.
The same arguments for and against such ventures
have played out around the country. But the
Edison Electric Institute says that
investor-owned utilities and stand-alone wires
companies invested a record $30 billion in the
nation’s transmission and distribution
infrastructure in 2011, which is the last full year
for which it has records. It expects the numbers in
2012 to be $34 billion.
It says that the increase is mainly because older
lines have been replaced or upgraded. But new lines
are also going up in certain parts of the country,
especially to interconnect renewable sources onto
the grid. Since 2000, the trade group says that
industry has invested $97.4 billion in high-powered
transmission and $237 billion in the distribution
system that reaches to people’s homes.
The process has been compared to herding cats, or
one that requires developers to confer with
community organizations far ahead of petitioning
authorities for permission. Oftentimes, agreements
are too difficult, which became the reason why
Congress enacted federal rules to ensure that vital
transmission and distribution lines can get built.
If the states reject those wires, however, there is
little that can be done. That’s why
American Electric Power wants the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission to have the same rights as
those granted in the natural gas industry, where the
commission has the final say on projects that cross
state boundaries.
“Transmission is the most difficult infrastructure
project to site and more so than generation,” says
Ron Poff, with AEP, who spoke previously with this
writer. “You can get support from politicians. But,
when the not-in-my-backyard factor weighs in, the
politicians will pull the rip cord.”
AEP has a particularly compelling story to tell. In
1990, it sought permission to build an 89-mile
transmission line through West Virginia and
Virginia. After a lot of twists and turns -- and 16
years later -- the project finally began
transmitting power. To be sure, AEP had to re-think
its route because of the area's rivers and wildlife.
In the end, though, the 765 kilovolt deal was needed
and won the necessary concessions.
Electricity markets will expand. To do so, they will
need a more comprehensive network of transmission
and distribution lines. That ordeal will remain
contentious, but through effective public outreach,
the planning, construction and financing of those
deals is achievable.
EnergyBiz Insider has been awarded the Gold for
Original Web Commentary presented by the American
Society of Business Press Editors. The column is
also the Winner of the 2011 Online Column category
awarded by Media Industry News, MIN. Ken Silverstein
has been honored as one of MIN’s Most Intriguing
People in Media.
Twitter: @Ken_Silverstein
energybizinsider@energycentral.com
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