National Electric Transmission Congestion Study - W2agz.com

5. Critical Congestion Areas, Congestion Areas of Concern,
and Conditional Congestion Areas
5.1. Overview
Chapters 3 and 4 have described the Department’s
analyses to identify the most significant congestion
areas in the Eastern and Western Interconnections.
Building on these results, this chapter identifies certain
geographic areas that merit further Federal attention.
The Department has grouped these areas
into three classes: (1) those where near-term action
is especially needed; (2) those where additional
analysis and information appear to be needed to
better understand the scope and relative urgency of
the problem; and (3) those where congestion would
become a major problem if new generation were to
be developed without sufficient attention to the
need for associated new transmission. These classes
and the relevant geographic areas are discussed below.
In identifying these areas, the Department considered
the size of the affected population and the
likely impacts of existing and/or emerging transmission
problems on the areas’ electric reliability,
supply diversity, and economic vitality and growth.
It is important to recognize that for each of these
congestion areas, appropriate transmission solutions
may extend well beyond the boundaries of the
congestion area. Although this study identifies a
number of congestion areas that merit further
Federal attention, DOE may or may not designate
National Corridors in relation to these areas.
Critical Congestion Areas. These are areas where
DOE finds that it is critically important to remedy
existing or growing congestion problems because
the current and/or projected effects of the congestion
are severe. This may be because the affected
population is very large, because the economic
costs of the congestion are very high, because of a
growing reliability problem, because the consequences
of grid failure could be very severe for the
Nation, or a combination of these considerations.
The problems in these areas should be addressed
promptly with planning and policy efforts to develop
and implement appropriate transmission,
generation and demand-side solutions. This study
identifies two densely populated and economically
vital Critical Congestion Areas:
• The Atlantic coastal area from Metropolitan New
York southward through northern Virginia, and
• Southern California.
These areas are identified in Figures 5-1 and 5-2
with orange shading. The dark blue arrows indicate
the directions additional low-cost electricity would
flow if more transmission capacity were available.
In Chapter 6, the Department states that it is focusing
attention on, and preliminarily believes it may
Three Classes of Congestion Areas
Critical Congestion Areas: Areas where it is critically
important to remedy existing or growing
congestion problems because the current and/or
projected effects of the congestion are severe.
Congestion Areas of Concern: Areas where this
study and other information suggests that a largescale
congestion problem exists or may be emerging,
but more information and analysis appear to
be needed to determine the magnitude of the problem
and the likely relevance of transmission and
other solutions.
Conditional Congestion Areas: Areas where future
congestion would result if large amounts of
new generation resources were to be developed
without simultaneous development of associated
transmission capacity.
U.S. Department of Energy / National Electric Transmission Congestion Study / 2006 39