The peak, so far, of 2013 came July 18, when regional demand surpassed forecasts.
View full sizeThe increases to the Susquehanna-Roseland power line are designed to increase electricity capacity and reliability in the area. With a controversial new regional power line still two years from completion, peak electricity usage this summer surpassed forecasts.
But electricity providers say it was still business as usual.
Last month's heat wave did lead the region's power-grid operator to issue what is called a demand response, in which certain customers are paid to curtail usage, said Ray Dotter, spokesman for the operator, PJM Interconnection LLC.
It came on July 18, the preliminary peak usage period for 2013, Dotter said. The power demand that day for PJM's region -- it encompasses parts of 13 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, plus the District of Columbia -- was 158,156 megawatts, above the forecast peak demand for summer 2013 of 155,553 megawatts.
The region's available capacity July 18 was 167,505 megawatts, PJM reported, as temperatures spiked July 18 at 98 degrees at Lehigh Valley International Airport.
By the end of this past week, with temperatures around 80, weekday peak usage was hovering around 110,000 megawatts, PJM reported.
Precautions taken
Allentown-based PPL Electric Utilities was among the providers ordered by PJM to offer some customers an incentive to cut usage.
“There were a lot of things going on that day, but we just wanted to make sure we had sufficient capacity,” he said.
Beyond the region's highest daily peak of electricity demand since July 21, 2011, Dotter said there was little else to report in the Northeast's most energy-dependent season.
FirstEnergy Corp., which owns Jersey Central Power & Light and Met-Ed, also reported high usage in July -- but few problems.
“We’ve gotten through two periods of high heat so far, with the last one happening a couple of weeks ago,” spokesman Scott Surgeoner said. “But, we’ve had no major issues whatsoever, and we haven’t broken any records.”
Dotter is not yet ready to say that the summer will not finish without an issue.
“It is very possible for it to go higher in August, until we’re through this month it’d be too early to say anything,” he said.
In the past nine years, three periods of PJM peak demand occurred in the month of August.
Power line construction
Power companies building the region's new Susquehanna-Roseland power line say the project, designed to bolster reliability, is on schedule for completion in June 2015 -- just in time for the high-voltage season.
PPL Electric Utilities in Pennsylvania and Public Service Electric and Gas Co. in New Jersey are spearheading the $750 million project to improve transmission from the Berwick, Pa., area, where PPL Corp. operates a nuclear power plant, to Roseland, N.J., in metropolitan New York.
According to George Sous, manager of transmission outreach for PSE&G, preparation work will be finalized by Labor Day, when actual construction will begin.
“We’ll begin construction of the towers’ foundations in October, the existing power line will be deconstructed around Oct. 30 and then we’ll begin to erect the new towers,” he said.
PPL spokesman Paul Wirth said construction is planned through the Delaware Water Gap Recreational Area from late September into February. Environmentalists sued to block construction, but a New Jersey court rejected the attempt last February.
Wirth said efforts have been taken to minimize the impact on the park.
“Fall’s a peak (park-usage) period, but we’re working very closely with the National Park Service to let potential hikers and hunters know about construction so as to not surprise them,” he said. “Also, it’s happening at already-established power lines, so it shouldn’t be disruptive.”
Sous said the goal is to have fully constructed the new foundations and towers in time for summer 2014, then to resume construction that winter to establish the new 500,000-volt line -- in addition to the original line that carries 230,000 volts -- in time for summer 2015.
Once it’s established, officials are hoping summer’s worst heat won’t play a factor in meeting energy demands.
“This project really is a regional grid project,” Wirth said. “It’s going to help the local area’s grid.”