By Suzanne Herel

VALLEY FORGE, Pa. — PJM planners will recommend to the Board of Managers that LS Power build a new 230-kV transmission line from New Jersey’s Artificial Island to Delaware to address stability issues at the nuclear complex, they announced Tuesday at a special meeting of the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee.

LS Power’s commitment to limit construction costs to $146 million was a driving factor of the decision, said Paul McGlynn, general manager of system planning. PJM also felt the proposal has the best chance of being able to secure permits.

“It is our opinion that the LS Power proposal provides greater flexibility and can mitigate some of the permitting risk involved in siting,” he said. “It is staff’s intent to recommend installing a 230-kV line under the Delaware River using horizontal directional drilling technology and designate that to LS Power.”

Public Service Electric & Gas and Pepco Holdings Inc. were chosen for necessary connection facilities. Dominion Resources and Transource Energy, which were among the finalists, were not included in PJM’s recommendation. PJM will make the recommendation to the Board of Managers after May 29, the deadline for stakeholders to submit comments.

Sharon Segner, vice president for LS Power, said in an interview that she appreciated PJM recognizing the value of being able to choose from an overhead or submarine crossing.

“It’s going to be a difficult river crossing. We go into it with our eyes wide open,” she said. Yet, she said she was confident the company would be able to complete the four-year project within the cost cap. “We’ve assessed the situation, assessed the risks and feel very comfortable in the commercial feasibility of our project.”

Roles for PSE&G, Transource

PSE&G would be responsible for expanding the Salem substation and building a static VAR compensator (SVC) upgrade at New Freedom. Pepco Holdings Inc., Transource’s partner, would oversee interconnecting the new substation to the existing Red Lion-Cartanza and Red Lion-Cedar Creek 230-kV lines.

PSE&G and PHI together would be responsible for optical ground wire (OPGW) upgrades.

The SVC upgrade project is estimated at $31 million to $38 million, and the OPGW work at $25 million.

Home to the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear reactors, Artificial Island is the second largest nuclear complex in the country. Special operating procedures that historically have been used to maintain stability in the area have become increasingly difficult to implement while respecting the system’s other operational limits.

First Order 1000 Solicitation

The call for proposals for a fix, which went out two years ago, signaled PJM’s first competitive transmission project under the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Order 1000.

Last summer, PJM planners recommended PSE&G for the job, but the Board of Managers reopened the bidding following an outcry from losing bidders, environmentalists and New Jersey officials.

PSE&G was a finalist in the new round of bidding, along with LS Power, Transource and Dominion.

“We’re disappointed with the outcome,” Jorge L. Cardenas, PSE&G vice president for Asset Management & Centralized Services, said after the meeting. “We will put our comments together in the next 30 days.”

All of the projects include new transmission lines connecting the nuclear complex to Delaware. LS Power and Transource offered a southern, submarine crossing of the Delaware River, with LS Power also including an overhead option. Dominion and PSE&G proposed a northern, overhead crossing. (See Artificial Island Finalists Face Off in Tense Meeting.)

All are expected to be met with permitting obstacles.

Planners had expected to make a recommendation in January but held off so consultants could look into concerns that Dominion’s proposed use of thyristor controlled series compensation (TCSC) could threaten reliability.

At the last TEAC meeting, PJM said that Siemens Power Technology International had completed a sub-synchronous resonance analysis of Dominion’s proposal and found it could result in “negative damping” for several resonant frequencies.

Exponent, an engineering and science consulting firm hired by PJM to review the Siemens study, expressed its own concerns with the Dominion plan, which proposes a 90% post-contingency TCSC compensation — well above the usual 70 to 80% compensation used in the industry.

PSE&G Challenge

Still outstanding is a complaint PSE&G submitted to FERC accusing PJM of breaking its own rules in the bid solicitation process (EL-15-40). PJM in March asked FERC to defer ruling on the matter until it had chosen a bidder for the project. (See PJM: PSE&G’s Remedy for Artificial Island Bid Process ‘Draconian,’ ‘Self-Serving’.)

“We still have our complaint in to FERC, and we will pursue that and hope for the best,” Cardenas said.