National Electric Transmission Congestion Study - W2agz.com

2. Is there strong commercial interest from generation
companies that would develop the resources,
and from load-serving entities that
would purchase the output
3. Has sufficient analysis been done to determine
the amount and approximate locations of the required
new transmission facilities
4. Are the overall public benefits associated with
the development of the new generation and
transmission complex sufficiently large to merit
National Corridor designation
In this context, section 368 of the Energy Policy
Act of 2005 requires the Secretaries of Energy,
Agriculture, Commerce, Interior, and Defense to
identify areas on Federal Lands in the West that are
suitable for designation as multipurpose energy
corridors. The law requires designation of these
corridors by August 2007. Such corridors in the rest
of the country must be identified and designated by
August 2009. On June 23, 2006, the Departments
named above released a preliminary map of potential
energy corridors they are considering for designation
in the West under section 368 (see Figure
5-6). For more detailed state-level maps of these potential
corridors, see the website listed in the footnote
below. 58 DOE recognizes the need to coordinate
the designation of National Corridors and the
designation of multipurpose energy corridors under
section 368.
Montana – Wyoming Conditional
Constraint Area
This area is rich in coal and wind resources that, if
developed, could provide important sources of
low-cost energy and fuel diversity while improving
domestic energy self-sufficiency and enhancing the
economic development in the resource areas. This
resource development scenario has been thoroughly
explored in analyses sponsored by the Western
Governors Association. 59 Several new transmission
lines have been proposed 60 to deliver this energy
westward to distant load centers in Washington,
Oregon and California, and southward to Arizona
and Nevada. Other new lines would support these
flows, such as the new capacity discussed above for
the Seattle – Portland area.
Further, much of western Canada is rich in coal, natural
gas, wind, and oil sands. If the Canadian provinces
choose to develop these resources to increase
their energy exports to the United States, much of
the generation in Alberta would be transmitted
south by way of British Columbia, or by building
new lines directly into the Northern Great Plains.
These lines would then link up with the new lines
proposed to support expansion and shipment of
Montana-Wyoming generation.
Development of these generation resources and distribution
of their economic and reliability benefits
across much of the Western Interconnection will
not occur without a corresponding commitment to
build the transmission lines needed to deliver the
generation to distant loads. This will require a
long-term Federal and state policy commitment to
site and develop the resources, including support for
long-term power purchase contracts and some
agreement on how to allocate the costs of the new
transmission in a fair, mutually-accepted fashion.
Several of the extra-high voltage lines conceived in
this scenario could be sited in the energy corridors
on Federal lands now being identified under section
368. (See Figure 5-6.)
Figure 5-7 shows key results from the Western
Governors Association’s Clean and Diversified Energy
Advisory Committee’s (CDEAC) projection
of a high coal generation future. The figure shows
the probable locations and quantities for new coal
generation in 2015 across Montana, Wyoming,
Nevada and Utah, plus (in red) the associated new
transmission lines that would be needed. Figure 5-8
presents a comparable projection for a future emphasizing
new renewable resource development,
spanning the above states plus the Pacific
Northwest. As shown in both figures, the CDEAC
58 For more information about implementation of section 368, see http://corridoreis.anl.gov.
59 See especially the “Report of the Transmission Task Force, May 2006, Western Governors’ Association Clean and Diversified Energy
Initiative,” at http://www.westgov.org/wga/initiatives/cdeac/TransmissionReport-final.pdf, and the broader CDEAC report at http://www.
westgov.org/wga/meetings/am2006/CDEAC06.pdf.
60 These proposals include the Frontier line from Wyoming through Utah and Nevada to California, Northern Lights from Montana to Nevada,
and the TransWest Express from Idaho to Arizona.
U.S. Department of Energy / National Electric Transmission Congestion Study / 2006 51