Susan Tomasky, president - AEP Transmission, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on AEP's views of the state of the nation's transmission grid and the implementation of the 2005 Energy Policy Act (EPA2005) transmission provisions, urging action on its provisions.
The committee, chaired by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and including ranking member Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), chaired the hearing to conduct oversight on the state of the nation's transmission grid, as well as the implementation of the 2005 Energy Policy Act transmission provisions, including reliability, siting and infrastructure investment.
Others testifying before the committee included U.S. Sen. Robert Casey (D-Pa.); Joseph Kelliher, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); Kevin Kolevar, assistant secretary of energy for the U.S. Department of Energy; Marsha Smith, president of the executive committee of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners; Terry Boston, president and CEO of PJM Connection; Jim Hoecker of WIRES; Colin Whitley of the American Public Power Association; and George Loehr of the Piedmont Environmental Council.
Tomasky urged the committee to give FERC transmission line siting authority as a means to resolve conflicts and to permit transmission to be built.
She outlined a conceptual plan AEP has developed with the American Wind Energy Association to provide cost-effective transmission connections from areas of high wind potential to major load centers using a 765-kV backbone system. The "superhighway" plan is designed to permit wind energy resources to supply about 20 percent of the nation's electricity needs by the year 2030, at a cost of about $60 billion in today's dollars, she said.
"If it is urgent that we press forward with developing cleaner, more secure sources of power, then it is equally urgent that we build the transmission system that can deliver this power to customers," she said. "This company and, I am quite confident, our industry as a whole, stand ready to commit the resources and talent necessary to build the interstate transmission system that we need to meet the complex demands of our nation's energy future. I strongly urge you to give us the tools we need to do it."
EPA2005 provides mandatory electric reliability standards, with FERC exercising jurisdiction over all users of the bulk power system. It also gives the federal Department of Energy some authority to identify high-priority transmission lines, and gives FERC backstop siting authority to facilitate development of state siting laws. It empowers FERC to ensure cost recovery and to provide rate incentives to encourage the development of interstate transmission facilities, she said.
"However, even as we talk about ever-increasing congestion on the current system and the need for rapid deployment of renewables, there is little, if any, steel in the ground," she said. "We do not yet have a workable federal process for coordinating the development of transmission across regions and for ensuring the timely siting of the extra-high voltage multi-state transmission system.
"While the current system has served the nation well in the past, we face an urgent need for additional investment to create a robust and efficient grid that can integrate multiple new resources, including renewables, and deliver power across a broad geography," Tomasky said. "Properly designed, the system should provide maximum flexibility to bring on new sources and meet new load, and should complement and take maximum advantage of the underlying transmission resources already at our disposal."
