Organization keeps changing story on need for Transource power line project (opinion)
The Transource Transmission Line Project has been in the news for more than a year now in both Maryland and Pennsylvania. There are several citizens groups who have been actively opposing this project in both states. There are strong indications that Maryland will reject this project. Governor Hogan’s office opposes the project.
But this project was never for power for Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is merely in the way. The power for Maryland and the DC suburbs could easily and much more cheaply be generated in Maryland. PJM and Transource choose to ignore this option. An analysis of generation sources for the intended customers shows that there are at least 15 companies, mostly south of Maryland, that quote supply rates cheaper than the proposed Transource supply. Some of these suppliers quote rates as much as 20% cheaper. So why is PJM (a regional electricity transmission organization) supporting this project?
But the story gets even worse. The Energy Star standards went into effect more than 25 years ago, in 1992. Since that time every time a home owner replaces an appliance their home becomes more energy efficient. It took about ten years for these standards to have a material effect on grid demand, but now these steady improvements in efficiency are having a major effect. For more than 25 years all of us have been steadily improving our home’s energy efficiency. PJM’s data shows that grid demand is no longer increasing; instead it is decreasing.
More from Len Lindenmeyer:
More:Transource project should be canceled based on PJM's cost-benefit ratio
More:Transource power line: The human cost, for eternity
More:Question for Transource: Who pays when downed line starts fire?
But there is a second factor and it is even more important. Home owners in substantial numbers have been purchasing and installing rooftop solar arrays. Governor Rendell introduced the Pennsylvania Sunshine Solar program in the mid 2000s. That program kick started the installation of rooftop solar arrays in Pennsylvania. In 2010 and 2011 Pennsylvania was the 3rd fastest growing state in installing solar. While the growth has since slowed, it has not stopped. Today there are more than 22,500 rooftop solar arrays owned by home owners in Pennsylvania. In Maryland the addition of rooftop solar is even more popular with more than 63,100 rooftop arrays as of the 4th quarter of 2018.
Second, rooftop solar is far more efficient than grid power. Typical grid supply from the generation station to your home distribution panel is about 35% efficient. By contrast, power generated on the roof must only travel 30 to 50 feet to reach your distribution panel. For that reason rooftop solar is more than 98% efficient as measured between the roof and the Solar Production meter which sits in front of the home distribution panel.
The sad part about this whole project is that the story from PJM keeps changing. At one time there was a need for power in the DC area in five years. Later it was a market efficiency project. More recently, the PJM story changed and there was going to be a reliability problem in five years. Now, that story has been withdrawn. How can there be a reliability problem when our buildings steadily become more energy efficient and rooftop solar steadily injects additional supply throughout the territory? What is worse, Transource continues to spend money and their costs are reimbursed with an additional 10.4% added to the bill. Transource was recently paid $50,000. Who is paying for this? It is the rate payer; did you know you were being ripped off?
Len Lindenmeyer is a Fayetteville resident.