Power line expansion needs scrutiny now more than ever

An Electric Reliability Project.” They claim the line is necessary for reliability of our grid, and that PJM Interconnection — the grid operator — deemed the expansion necessary.

PJM operates the grid in New Jersey and 14 other eastern states, and is supposed to be an independent company charged with maintaining the grid’s reliability. In reality, however, PJM is a conglomerate of transmission line owners and power companies — like PSE&G — that generate electricity, mostly from coal-fired power plants to the west of New Jersey. Naturally, PJM is going to try to promote projects and policies that will generate income for their member corporations.

Recent studies by independent research firms — including ERPI and Synapse — have determined that consumer energy demand is falling, and will likely continue to fall or remain flat over the next decade. This drop in demand is not simply due to the depressed state of our current economy, but is more attributable to the efficiency of newer appliances and gadgets being introduced. New refrigerators use only 25 percent of the energy that they did years ago. LCD flat-screen TVs — despite their larger size — use less energy than older TVs. And increasing numbers of people are switching over to compact fluorescent and LED light bulbs.

Perhaps the largest contribution to decreased energy demand — especially during peak use periods — comes from “Demand Response,” a procedure where large energy consumers are paid to curtail energy use during times of high demand, essentially selling the unused surplus energy at a profit and reducing overall peak demand. Since Demand Response is used when transmission lines have the greatest potential to be overloaded — on really hot days with high peak demand — it alleviates most if not all of the need to build costly new transmission lines to cover peak usage, as the proposed Susquehanna-Roseland project is intended to do.