Published: July 31, 2008 08:42 am      

Public open houses detail power line plans

PATH would transmit electricity through Mineral, Hampshire, Grant, Hardy into Md.

CUMBERLAND — Public information meetings continue for the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline that has been proposed by Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power to run from West Virginia to Frederick County.

“The reason we are holding the open houses is people have heard there’s a second power line project that might be in play,” Alan Staggers, Allegheny Energy corporate communications manager, said. “We’re to the point now where we have some alternate routes identified. We want to share that with the public. We want to get public comment.”

Staggers said locally, the $1.8 billion project could go through Mineral, Hampshire, Grant and Hardy counties in West Virginia to lead to Kemptown in Frederick County.

The project would include 224 miles of 756-kilovolt transmission from AEP’s Amos substation near St. Albans, W.Va., to Allegheny Energy’s substation in Bedington, W.Va. There would be 46 miles of twin-circuit 500-kilovolt transmission lines from there to Kemptown, where plans are to construct a new substation.

Staggers said public comment could be an important part of the meetings. While the power companies do extensive studies, sometimes there is additional information on an area that they wouldn’t know without the residents’ input.

Meetings are scheduled from 5 to 8 p.m. today at South Branch Inn, Romney; Tuesday at Davis Fire Hall; and Aug. 11 at South Branch Inn, Moorefield.

With the increased use of energy, Staggers said by 2012, the current transmission lines would begin to become overloaded, resulting in power outages. If the reliability of a line that carries energy east, as PATH will, is compromised, it could affect other customers as well, including those in West Virginia.

“These projects don’t strictly serve customers in the east,” Staggers said. “It’s hard to understand because it’s a complicated issue. The engineering behind it is complicated.”

The PATH project was approved by PJM Interconnection, the energy grid operator for the region, Sept. 1, 2007, to upgrade the region’s transmission system.

This project is separate from Allegheny Energy’s Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line, known as TrAIL, approved by PJM in June 2006 to transmit power from southwestern Pennsylvania through West Virginia and into Virginia.

Ray Dotter, media relations manager at PJM, said that PJM identified 13 lines that would overload with the current expectations for how power will be used.

He said that adding lines would help to alleviate the stress that will be placed on existing transmission lines.

PJM, Dotter said, looks at the multistate region and tries to find shortages in power as well as areas in need of improvements in order to “keep the lights on.”

He said regardless of the options for energy production, increasing the transmission will be necessary.

“We have been talking to people about transmission improvements and solutions,” Dotter said. “Other things like renewable power, more generation locally, are all important things, but to some extent they drive the need for new power transmission. You need both renewables and transmission. It’s not one solution.”

Staggers said in December, the PATH project will be presented to the West Virginia Public Service Commission for approval, which could take up to a year. The presentation will include the proposed routes, including the most appropriate route.

For more information on PATH, visit www.pathtransmission.com.

Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.