Grid Manager PJM Directed JCPL to Build Transmission Line

Middletown, NJ - When it comes to those deeply hated transmission lines proposed to cut through the heart of northern Monmouth County, Jersey Central Power & Light is acting at the behest of a much larger, much more powerful organization.

PJM Interconnection is the manager of the electric power grid in 13 states and the District of Columbia. JCP&L, through its parent company, FirstEnergy Corp., pays PJM an administrative fee to use the grid, and hence deliver and sell electricity to customers.

PJM routinely evaluates the grid and in 2011, made a decision that the area around the Red Bank substation needed enhancement, a company spokesman told Patch Wednesday. This suggestion was made before Superstorm Sandy struck and knocked out much of the region's power. PJM tasked JCP&L with building an additional transmission line connecting to its Red Bank substation. PJM provided a copy of their 2011 regional plan; see page 33 for the Monmouth County area PJM identified as being in need of improvement.

"Five years ago we identified a problem in the area of Monmouth County with the existing transmission lines," said PJM spokesman Ray Dotter. "Around the Red Bank substation, there is one set of towers with two sets of power lines on it. The term we use is 'double circuited.' If both those lines had to shut down, for either an emergency or repair, the system couldn't keep delivering power."

The purple line pictured above shows the line that currently exists, which extends south out of the Red Bank substation. That is the line PJM says is problematic and that Dotter says is "double circuited." A third line going north from the Red Bank substation to Aberdeen would boost the existing line, JCP&L says. JCP&L says they've rejected 16 other spots to build the third line and that the railroad right-of-way is the best route.

The idea to build a third transmission line was not so much a suggestion, but a requirement.

"When JCP&L joined PJM, they signed various agreements, and one of those agreements is that they have an obligation to build transmission lines that we've identified as necessary for reliability," Dotter continued. "In the unlikely event a company refused to build what we think is necessary, we could file a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and have the commission compel them to build a line."

Dotter said that previous comments made in the press by Scott Humphrys, a JCP&L employee and the Monmouth County Reliability Project manager, that PJM itself could impose fines were "not accurate. We have no authority to levy fines, but the federal government could," Dotter said. A JCP&L spokesman said Humphreys unintentionally mischaracterized the process.

But it is up to JCP&L to choose where exactly is best for the transmission line to go. JCP&L picks a route they determine is best, and must present its case to state and local authorities, which they will do via their application to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU). That application is expected to filed as early as July.

"There's never been an instance that a company did not build," on the grid manager's recommendation, Dotter said. "Once we've identified a need, the state commission, in this case the BPU, would, through its process, find it necessary."

But many Middletown homeowners aren't buying it. Some have floated the idea that First Energy is just trying to bulk up the grid so they can sell more energy. JCP&L does not sell energy, but parent company First Energy does indeed sell energy on the open market.

However, that suggestion is one both both JCP&L and PJM dismissed.

"I could see someone saying that if this was a massive interstate line project," said Dotter. "But this is just a small Jersey Shore line. There are projects identified for economics and market efficiency, but this is not one of them."

"The line is being built to fulfill a need in Monmouth County," said JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano.

"Whether or not this is built, we don't make money," Dotter said. "We don't have a financial stake in this. It's all about keeping the lights on."

But many in Monmouth County remain unconvinced that there is a true need for a third transmission line. And the fact that JCP&L refuses to attend community meetings, despite being invited, doesn't help, opponents say.

"All of us have yet to be convinced that there is a necessity for such a massive project with so many unforeseen harmful consequences," said Monmouth County Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, who led a meeting Tuesday night against the proposal. Handlin lives in Middletown, and helped defeat the project back in 1989 when it was first proposed. "There might or might not be a need for something on a much smaller scale, but with no answers from JCP&L, we can't evaluate the situation. I can't and neither can anyone else."