Eastern Interconnection Grid Planning Authorities Study Set of Stakeholder-Identified Electric System Future

RENSSELAER, NY (05/23/2011)(readMedia)-- The Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative (EIPC) today announced that its diverse array of stakeholders has reached consensus on the final set of "resource expansion futures" to be studied as part of the electric system transmission planning effort funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

"We have taken a major step forward with the stakeholder-defined specifications for the resource futures to be considered in the macroeconomic analysis in Phase I of the Project. The stakeholders are to be congratulated for their hard work in achieving a consensus on these scenarios," said Stephen G. Whitley, president and CEO of the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) and chair of the EIPC Executive Committee.

The eight "resource expansion futures", along with numerous sensitivities for each future, to be studied by the EIPC include the following:

1. "Business as Usual" future assumes present trends continue into the future based on historical indices.

2. "Federal Carbon Constraint: National Implementation" future assumes full compliance with the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, and significant near-term reduction in CO2 and other pollutants such as SO2, NOx, and mercury, as well as federal enactment of carbon control standards that result in no less than 42% economy-wide reduction in CO2 by 2030 and an 80% reduction by 2050.

3. "Federal Carbon Constraint: State and Regional Implementation" future assumes the same goals as defined in Future #2, except "Super-Regions" will be designated to encourage selection of local resources first.

4. "Aggressive Energy Efficiency, Demand Response, Distributed Generation and Smart Grid" future assumes overall energy demand is drastically reduced through energy efficiency, demand response, distributed generation, and universal deployment of smart grid advanced metering infrastructure.

5. "National Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS): Top Down Implementation" future assumes a national RPS is established requiring each load serving entity to obtain 30% of its electricity from renewable resources by 2030.

6. "National RPS: State and Regional Implementation" future assumes the same goals as defined in Future #5, except Super-Regions will be designated to encourage selection of local resources first.

7. "Nuclear Resurgence" future assumes there will be a significant number of nuclear facilities developed in the Eastern Interconnection, including the extension of existing plant life and the construction of new large facilities. (Small modular nuclear facilities will be included in a sensitivity run.)

8. "Combined Federal Climate and Energy Policy" future assumes carbon constraint goals are 42% reduction by 2030 and 80% reduction by 2050, with the electricity sector responsible for 60% of the total emission reductions. This future also assumes the same RPS goals as defined in Future #5, except Super-Regions will be designated to encourage selection of local resources first.

Supported by DOE funding, the EIPC's initial task was the development of a transparent stakeholder process that included representatives of various interest sectors across the entire interconnection, represented by a 29-member Stakeholder Steering Committee (SSC) to provide advice and key inputs to the interconnection-wide technical analyses.

""I am pleased that the Stakeholder Steering Committee, which includes many diverse points of view on energy policy, has been able to reach consensus on eight possible energy futures to be studied. The group has worked extraordinarily well together, in collaboration with EIPC and DOE. Analysis of these futures will inform the first, fully coordinated electric transmission planning exercise across the Eastern Interconnection", said Roy Thilly, Co-Chair of the SSC.

In November 2010, the EIPC released a draft report integrating the results of regional planning into an interconnection-wide model for the year 2020. It summarized the transmission and generation forecast to be developed across the entire Eastern Interconnection over the next decade in accordance with the regional plans of the participating planning authorities. The draft report indicates that approximately 1,000 new and upgraded transmission facilities and some 750 new and upgraded generation resources will be serving the region by 2020.

EIPC is scheduled to publish an interim report by the end of 2011 which will highlight the results of the analysis of the stakeholder-selected energy futures as well as the SSC's selection of three scenarios for further analysis.The second phase of the project, scheduled to begin in early 2012, will include the development of a transmission build out to support each of the three resource scenarios selected by stakeholders and will include more detailed reliability and economic analysis. The final project report is due to the DOE by the end of 2012.

About the EIPC

Formed under an agreement by over two dozen electric system planning authorities from forty states in the Eastern United States and six provinces in Eastern Canada, the EIPC is focused on a "bottom-up" approach, starting with a roll-up of the existing grid expansion plans of electric system planning authorities in the Eastern Interconnection. The EIPC membership includes Alcoa Power Generating, Inc.; American Transmission Company LLC; Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC; Electric Energy Incorporated; E.ON U.S. LLC , on behalf on its operating companies Louisville Gas & Electric Company and Kentucky Utilities Company; Entergy Services, Inc. on behalf of the Entergy Corporation Utility Operating Companies; Florida Power & Light Company; Georgia Transmission Corporation (An Electric Membership Corporation); Independent Electricity System Operator ("IESO"); International Transmission Company; ISO New England, Inc.; JEA; Mid-Continent Area Power Pool, by and through its agent, MAPPCOR; Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator, Inc.; Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia; New York Independent System Operator, Inc.; New Brunswick System Operator; PJM Interconnection LLC; PowerSouth Energy Cooperative; Progress Energy Carolinas, Inc.; Progress Energy Florida, Inc.; South Carolina Electric & Gas Company; South Carolina Public Service Authority; Southern Company Services Inc., as agent for Alabama Power Company, Georgia Power Company, Gulf Power Company, and Mississippi Power Company; Southwest Power Pool, Inc.; and the Tennessee Valley Authority.

For more information, visit eipconline.com