ERCOT eyes 3 billion in transmission line projects
The annual transmission planning report, which covers the 2008-2012 period, is similar in many ways to the report ERCOT issued in January 2007. Then, ERCOT projected that $3.1 billion would be spent on new transmission lines and related projects in the 2007-11 period.
The report includes several 345-kV transmission-line projects that have been under develop Clear Spring to Salado that will be energized in 2010-11, and an 198-mile project from Red Creek to Killeen that will come online in 2012.
Planned improvements identified for the first time in 2008's five-year plan, ERCOT said, include a 22-mile, 345-kV line from Nacogdoches to Lufkin in eastern Texas; a 345-kV switching station in northwest Houston to increase the ability of the grid to transport power between northern Texas and the Houston area; and additional autotransformer and 138-kV line upgrades in the Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan area.
The reliability council said two new 345-kV lines and a new 345-kV switching station were included in the West region plan "due to the approximately 6,500 MW of wind generation that is installed or has completed an interconnection agreement in the West congestion management zone."
ERCOT added, however, that these West zone upgrades "may be superseded by the transmission lines that are ordered as a result of the Competitive Renewable Energy Zone process underway at the Public Utility Commission of Texas." The PUC is expected to designate the final CREZ transmission projects in mid-2008.
Related News
Congressional Democrats push FERC to act on aggregated DERs
WASHINGTON - The Monday letter from Congressional Democrats illustrates growing frustration in Washington over the lack of FERC action on multiple power sector issues.
Last May, after the FERC technical conference, 16 Democratic Senators wrote to then-Chairman Kevin McIntyre urging him to develop guidance for grid operators on aggregated DERs.
In July, McIntyre responded, saying that FERC was "diligently reviewing the record," but the commission has taken no action since.
Since then, "DER adoption and renewable energy aggregation have continued to grow," House and Senate lawmakers wrote in their identical Monday letters, "driven not only by state and federal policies, but consumer interest…
