HD39 - "Wheeling" of Electricity in Southwest Virginia

  • Published: 1992
  • Author: State Corporation Commission
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 441 (Regular Session, 1991)

Executive Summary:
House Joint Resolution (HJR) No. 441, as adopted by the 1991 session of the Virginia General Assembly, required that the State Corporation Commission "study what steps could be implemented in the near future to enable 100 MW or more of power, prior to 1998, to be 'wheeled' from electric power plants built in southwest Virginia."

Facility improvements made or planned to be made by American Electric Power (AEP), the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland power pool (PJM), and the Allegheny Power System (APS) will improve west-to-east transfer capability on the regional transmission system. This enhanced capability, coupled with the expiration of several wholesale power contracts, should enable the regional system to accommodate the transfer of up to 250 MW of additional power from Apco to Virginia Power's service area. It appears, however, that the construction of one or more major transmission lines is necessary to further accommodate significant west-to-east power transfers greater than this amount.

The wheeling of power from southwest Virginia may not be 100 percent reliable under current conditions. Any additional power transfer, as well as existing contracts, would be subject to interruptions in the event of facility outages and/or system overloads. Likewise, while the Virginia Power/Apco facility enhancements currently planned will increase transfer capability, if those projects are approved, but are delayed beyond 1998, the reliability of all west-to-east power transfers will deteriorate as native load growth consumes incremental transfer capability generated by recent facility improvements. In the interim however, the existing Apco system appears capable of providing up to 250 MW of wheeling on a reasonably firm basis.