Powerline proposal gains PJM approval
The PJM Interconnection Board has approved a Remington-Pratts-Gordonsville solution.
Last week, the board met and authorized dozens of electric transmission improvements, including a record number addressing market efficiency issues. According to a news release from PJM, the changes are estimated to save electricity consumers $815 million in transmission congestion costs and additional millions in reduced load payments and productions costs.
In addition, several smaller transmission projects were approved to address grid reliability concerns. Among them, was a solution for the Remington-Gordonsville-Pratts project.
Introduced by Dominion in March, the project aims to address reliability issues and a possible summer 2018 overload identified by regional transmission organization PJM. When initially introduced, Dominion proposed upgrading a portion of the existing 115kV line from Remington to Gordonsville to 230 kv, opting to then run the 230kV line to a new substation at the existing Pratts substation. This would have required 13-18 miles of new right-of-way across numerous properties—something property owners were not happy about. However, the PJM Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee (TEAC) chose the project as its recommended solution from among more than a dozen solutions.
However, in September, Dominion announced a change. Instead of running the line to Pratts, which it had said was intended to offer that substation redundancy, the company stated that it would focus on the entire line from Remington to Gordonsville, upgrading it into a double circuit 230kV/115kV line. A third 230kV-115kV transformer would then be installed at the Gordonsville substation within the existing fence line. While some segments of the 36-mile corridor already meet the 100-foot width required for the approximately 11-foot monopoles the line upgrade would require, some segments do not and will require the acquisition of additional right-of-way on either side.
In addition, the original option will still be submitted to the SCC as an alternative, but the new option will be introduced as the primary choice.
