PJM planners will recommend almost $150 million in transmission upgrades in the Atlantic City Electric transmission zone to address reliability problems anticipated from the retirement of the B.L. England coal-fired generator.
B.L. England Unit 2 is under a consent order to shut down in June 2015 due to emissions rules, and Unit 3 and a diesel unit may shut down at the same time, PJM’s Paul McGlynn told the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee during a presentation last week. The at-risk units total about 300 MW. England’s 129-MW Unit 1 retired May 1.
Rockland Capital’s plans to repower the units have been stymied by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission’s rejection of a proposed 15-mile natural gas pipeline through the protected region. (See Plant Retirement Could Spur $148 Million in Tx Upgrades.)
“We think it’s prudent to recommend to move forward with the upgrades,” McGlynn said. If the pipeline were approved and the units remain active, some or all of the proposed upgrades would be cancelled, McGlynn said.
The RTO will recommend the Board of Managers include the upgrades in the Regional Transmission Expansion Plan (RTEP), but the projects aren’t expected to be complete until 2016, leaving the area at risk for multiple N-1-1 violations.
The proposed upgrades include:
- Removal and reconfiguring of the New Orchard-Cardiff 230-kV line ($57 million).
- Addition of new Upper Pittsgrove-Lewis 138-kV line ($28 million).
- Cardiff substation work to accommodate new Orchard-Cardiff 230-kV line and new Cardiff-Lewis 138-kV line ($16.4 million).
- Conversion of the Landis substation to a ring bus and connection of three lines to it ($13.4 million).