Regulators hold hearing on PATH line
American Electric Power and Allegheny Energy asked the State Corporation Commission to extend proceedings on its request for the Virginia segment of the $2.1 billion Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline, or PATH. Regulators indicated they plan to rule on the delay soon.
The proposed 275-mile, 765-kilovolt power line would run from AEP's John Amos plant in West Virginia, 31 miles across three counties in northern Virginia, to a substation near Kemptown, Maryland.
The companies want to update the application with new projections on increased energy demands along the East Coast by 2015 that were released in late December.
They have argued that the power line is needed to feed the Northeast's growing need for energy. The analyses found that PATH continues to be the best fix for overloading that's expected to start in 2015, the companies said.
PJM Interconnection, the transmission authority that manages the grid system for a 13-state region, said overloads and other issues could trigger blackouts and brownouts in the region by mid-2015 if the line is not built.
However, opponents of the line have argued that electrical demand projections are inaccurate and that the line would only serve to continue the use of coal for electrical generation.
Similar requests are pending in West Virginia and Maryland.
Related News

U.S. Renewable and Clean Energy Industries Set Sights on Market Majority
WASHINGTON - Within a decade, more than half of the electricity generated in the U.S. will come from clean, renewable resources supported by energy storage, according to a joint commitment today from the American wind, solar, hydropower, and energy storage industries. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), National Hydropower Association (NHA), and Energy Storage Association (ESA) have agreed to actively collaborate across their industry segments to achieve this target.
The four industries have released a set of joint advocacy principles that will enable them to realize this bold vision of a majority renewables grid. Along with…