Area hungry for power

Friday, Oct. 27, 2006

The aborted merger between Constellation Energy Group and FPL Group comes at a time when Maryland is hard-pressed to keep up with ever-increasing demand for electricity.

At peak electrical use times, such as hot summer days when air conditioners are running at full power, the transmission lines that bring electricity to the region experience what’s known as ‘‘transmission congestion.”

‘‘The demand for electricity is growing and it’s growing everywhere,” said Allen Staggers, spokesman for Allegheny Energy of Greensburg, Pa., which serves Western Maryland and parts of Montgomery, Howard and Carroll counties. The Maryland region is the utility’s fastest growing territory.

‘‘One of the things that is affecting us right now is because of the growth and demand for electricity, the existing infrastructure, especially as far as electric transmission lines, is being pushed almost to its limits right now,” Staggers said.

The electricity delivery network in the mid-Atlantic region, which runs from New York City to Northern Virginia and includes Maryland, is in need of immediate attention, according to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The region was one of two in the nation — the other being Southern California — to be designated as ‘‘critical congestion areas,” which means it is ‘‘critically important to remedy existing or growing congestion problems,” according to the report.

‘‘Without transmission upgrades, critically important loads in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area will face numerous violations of reliability criteria over the next 15 years,” the report says.

In June, PJM Interconnection LLC, the Valley Forge, Pa., entity that coordinates the transmission of electricity for the region, approved $1.3 billion in transmission upgrades and directed studies for future needs.

The last time new interstate transmission lines were built to carry electricity from the coal-burning power plants of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania to the area was 25 years ago, he said.

‘‘The demand is growing faster on the east side of the Allegheny Mountains than on the west side, but there’s more generating power on the west side of the mountains,” Staggers said.

At peak times, the 500,000-kilowatt interstate transmission lines experience ‘‘transmission congestion,” he said, and utilities ask customers to conserve as much electricity as possible to avoid overloading the system.

To get electricity from new sources to the region’s grid, Allegheny Energy is planning to build a 240-mile long transmission line from Pennsylvania into Maryland and northern Virginia at an estimated cost of $850 million, Staggers said. Thirty of the miles would be built in partnership with Old Dominion Power of Virginia.

The new transmission line is expected to be operating by 2011.

Pepco of Washington, D.C., also is planning to build a transmission line from Northern Virginia into Maryland and the Delmarva Peninsula and into New Jersey to bring additional electricity to Maryland and the Eastern seaboard.

‘‘We need to keep up with customer demand,” said Robert Dobkin, spokesman for Pepco.

Pepco has not yet received approval for the project — which would cost an estimated $1.2 billion for the 230-mile-long line — from PJM Interconnection, Dobkin said. The proposed project would be completed by 2015.

‘‘That will allow us to bring additional sources of power into the region and reduce costs associated with transmission congestion that we currently experience,” he said.

‘‘Not only is the increased demand from the growing number of customers, but the demand from customers keeps increasing with personal computers, flat-panel TVs and TVs in every room and home sizes growing larger,” Dobkin said.

In 1985, the average customer in Maryland used 10,700 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. In 2005, usage had grown to 13,600 kwh annually.

‘‘We’re consuming more. We’re a consuming nation and electricity is a vital part of it,” Dobkin said.