2010 Report - Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

Figure 3 PJM RTO service territoryOn April 1, 2002, PJM West becameoperational, broadening the regional scope ofthe electric grid operator for the Mid-AtlanticRegion, to include Allegheny Power andmarking the first time, nationally, that twoseparate control areas were operated under asingle energy market and a single governancestructure.On May 1, 2004, PJM began managing the flowof wholesale electricity over CommonwealthEdison’s 5,000 miles of transmission lines inIllinois, making PJM the world’s largest gridoperator, meeting a peak demand of 87,000 MW. On Oct. 1, 2004, PJM began managingAmerican Electric Power’s (AEP’s) eastern control area, including 22,300 miles of high-voltagetransmission lines within a seven-state area and 23,800 MW of generating capacity. At the sametime, Dayton Power and Light integrated into the PJM RTO with 1,000 miles of transmission linesand 4,450 MW of generation. Also, 20 municipal electric companies, cooperatives and generatorsin the AEP area joined PJM. On Jan. 1, 2005, PJM began managing the wholesale flow ofelectricity for Duquesne Light Company, with 3,400 MW of capacity and 620 miles oftransmission lines. These entities, including Allegheny, comprise PJM West.Virginia Electric and Power (Dominion) was integrated into the PJM RTO on May 1, 2005.Dominion’s control area, covering parts of Virginia and North Carolina, operates separately underthe single PJM energy market as PJM South, including an additional 6,100 miles of transmissionlines and 26,500 MW of generating capacity.On Aug. 17, 2009, FirstEnergy Service Company filed a request with FERC to consolidate all ofits ATSI 15 transmission assets, currently operated by MISO, into the PJM RTO. ATSI has 32interconnections with PJM, but only three with MISO. Moving ATSI into the PJM RTO isexpected to reduce congestion and increase efficiency across both RTOs. The integration, whichwas approved by FERC on Dec. 17, 2009, will become effective June 1, 2011.On May 20, 2010, Duke Energy Corporation announced its desire to move its Ohio and Kentuckyutilities from MISO to the PJM RTO by Jan. 1, 2012, which would increase PJM’s generatingcapacity by 2,379 MW. The subsidiaries would also add 5,800 MW to PJM’s system peak load.PJM manages a sophisticated regional planning process for generation and transmission expansionto ensure the continued reliability of the electric system. PJM is responsible for maintaining theintegrity of the regional power grid and for managing changes and additions to the grid toaccommodate new generating plants, substations and transmission lines. In addition, PJManalyzes and forecasts the future electricity needs of the region. Its planning process ensures thatthe growth of the electric system takes place efficiently, in an orderly fashion, and that reliability15 American Transmission Systems Inc., a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corporation, has assets located within the footprintof FirstEnergy’s Ohio and Pennsylvania (Penn Power) utilities, including 7,100 circuit miles of transmission lines withnominal voltages of 345 kV, 138 kV and 69 kV.6Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission