PATH Announces Change to Transmission Line Completion Date
COLUMBUS, Ohio & GREENSBURG, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) and Allegheny Energy, Inc. (NYSE: AYE) today announced a schedule change for their proposed transmission project.
The Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH), a 765-kilovolt line extending from southwestern West Virginia to central Maryland, now has a June 2014 completion deadline. The one-year schedule change results from a recent reliability analysis by PJM Interconnection (PJM) that considered various factors, including its 2009 load forecast.
PJM, the regional grid operator directing the construction of PATH, has confirmed that the project remains critical to addressing regional reliability concerns. PJM’s latest update of its reliability analysis confirms that significant overloads and voltage problems will occur in the region, beginning in 2014, if the PATH project is not completed.
The PATH project team expects to file applications for approval to build the line with the West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia regulatory commissions in the second quarter. Timely approvals by the state commissions are needed to meet the new deadline established by PJM.
Allegheny Energy
Headquartered in Greensburg, Pa., Allegheny Energy is an investor-owned electric utility with total annual revenues of over $3 billion and more than 4,000 employees. The company owns and operates generating facilities and delivers low-cost, reliable electric service to 1.6 million customers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia. For more information, visit our Web site at www.alleghenyenergy.com.
American Electric Power
American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity to more than 5 million customers in 11 states. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning more than 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a nearly 39,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP’s transmission system directly or indirectly serves about 10 percent of the electricity demand in the Eastern Interconnection, the interconnected transmission system that covers 38 eastern and central U.S. states and eastern Canada, and approximately 11 percent of the electricity demand in ERCOT, the transmission system that covers much of Texas. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.
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