Pjm Interconnection

Regional grid operator PJM Interconnection says it authorized more than 750 electric transmission improvement projects last year costing more than $5 billion to prepare for massive shifts in the way power is produced in the region. PJM, which is based in Valley Forge, said the unprecedented switch from older coal-burning power plants in Appalachia to new natural-gas and renewable energy projects is driving the need to reconfigure the grid to maintain a reliable electricity supply.

It could have been worse. You could have been in Saudi Arabia, where the temperature was 104 degrees yesterday. The electric company probably wishes you were. "It was a tense afternoon," said Peco Energy public relations manager David Hackney. But the temperature climbed to only 88 - five degees below the record of 93 set in 1936 - and customers apparently heeded the utility's pleas to conserve. The utility avoided any voltage reductions or temporary service interruptions, still the utility yesterday afternoon hit a record for usage in May. Demand reached 6,800 megawatts, Hackney said.

What a difference three years can make. A cascading blackout, caused by inadequate tree trimming, poor employee training and computer failure, thrust the Northeast into darkness on the mild summer evening of Aug. 14, 2003. This summer, a nationwide heat wave pushed utilities to their limits not once but repeatedly. PJM Interconnection - a grid traffic cop that coordinates the transmission of electricity for 51 million customers in 13 states, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey - set a usage record July 17, only to break it Aug. 1, and then again the next day. So far in '06, the national system has strained, but largely withstood the pressure.

The parent of Peco Energy Co. yesterday unplugged its $17 billion bid to acquire Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. after failing to reach a deal with New Jersey utility regulators. Exelon Corp. had counted on the merger to give it scale in one of the nation's largest power grids. The Chicago company, which threatened in August to pull the plug on the deal, would not comment on its plans. "We are very disappointed that the merger cannot be completed," John W. Rowe, Exelon's chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement released after the stock market had closed.

PJM Interconnection said yesterday that, as electricity use soared Wednesday, the region's power grid set a record in the amount of peak need that was met by so-called demand response, in which power customers are paid market rates to curtail consumption. With high temperatures and humidity across the eastern portion of its 13-state electricity pool, PJM said demand topped 139,700 megawatts - less than the record of 144,644 megawatts set Aug. 2, 2006, but the highest so far this year.

NewPower Holdings Inc. said yesterday that it was in discussions to be acquired by a British utility for about $66 million. The electricity and natural gas retailer has 680,000 customers in five states, including 192,000 electricity customers in the Philadelphia area. A spokeswoman said its customers would not be affected by the possible sale. The company, which was started in January 2000, has had cash-flow concerns for the last year, and it is 44 percent owned by Enron Corp.

The threat of rolling blackouts or voltage cutbacks eased late yesterday as clouds and rain cooled off portions of central Pennsylvania and eastern Maryland. The temperatures in the Philadelphia region are expected to soar well above 90 degrees today and tomorrow, again putting extreme demands on the region's electric-power grid. The Philadelphia Health Department and National Weather Service in Mount Holly yesterday issued an excessive-heat warning for the weekend. The heat index, which is a combination of humidity and air temperature, could hit 105 today, officials said.

Think of it as Mother Nature's economic stimulus. Electricity consumption has dropped dramatically this summer because of the mild weather, and it is translating into more manageable electric bills. PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator, says electricity demand in the mid-Atlantic states was down 13.5 percent in June compared with last year. Peco Energy Co. customers used 14.9 percent less power in June than they did a year ago, and sales are off 2.5 percent for the first six months of the year, according to PJM. Public Service Electric & Gas, the New Jersey utility, sold 17 percent less power in June, and 4.5 percent less for the year.

The sudden resignation this week of Phillip G. Harris, chief executive officer of PJM Interconnection, the Valley Forge company that operates the region's electrical grid, is drawing increased attention to criticism of its oversight of the wholesale power market. A PJM spokesman said Harris, who did not respond to requests for comment, "elected to take retirement. " PJM, which manages a power grid that serves 51 million people in 13 states and Washington, said Harris would be replaced on an interim basis by senior vice president Karl Pfirrmann.

Computer technology has trumped all the mental pictures I have of what a "control room" should look like. On Monday, I visited the Navy Yard's new Network Operations Center (NOC) to see what's expected to be a showcase for how "smart grid" technologies will perform at the growing urban office and industrial park. But instead of a wall-size map of the Navy Yard or a long control board with switches and blinking lights, the room on the first floor of Building 101 looked like the classroom it was, albeit with some funky strings of LED lighting.

Regional grid operator PJM Interconnection says it authorized more than 750 electric transmission improvement projects last year costing more than $5 billion to prepare for massive shifts in the way power is produced in the region. PJM, which is based in Valley Forge, said the unprecedented switch from older coal-burning power plants in Appalachia to new natural-gas and renewable energy projects is driving the need to reconfigure the grid to maintain a reliable electricity supply.

A lot of energy is wasted each time a train stops at one of the 28 stations on SEPTA's Market-Frankford Line. In a six-car train, the brakes produce about 3 million watts of power during the 15 seconds it takes to halt the 400 tons of hurtling metal, plastic and humanity. Some of the electricity is reused by other trains on the line. Much of the power is lost — dissipated as hot air through the subway car's rooftop vents. But what if the electricity produced by the train's regenerative brakes could be captured and reused, as it is with a hybrid vehicle?

Computer technology has trumped all the mental pictures I have of what a "control room" should look like. On Monday, I visited the Navy Yard's new Network Operations Center (NOC) to see what's expected to be a showcase for how "smart grid" technologies will perform at the growing urban office and industrial park. But instead of a wall-size map of the Navy Yard or a long control board with switches and blinking lights, the room on the first floor of Building 101 looked like the classroom it was, albeit with some funky strings of LED lighting.

My clothes washing machine has a feature that allows me to feel marvelously virtuous. It's a timer. My routine is to load the machine in the evening, have it run in the wee hours, and then hang the clothes in the morning. But is this just a feel-good gesture? I hold that it makes a difference, that it's the next level of wise energy use. Using less energy overall is certainly a worthy goal. The way to make an even bigger difference is to use less energy at specific times - those "peak" hours when so many other pieces of machinery are sucking down the juice.

When Ryan Flaim got word in late fall that a high-voltage power line was planned along the edge of his family's Cumberland County farm, he was incensed, but he doubted there was any way to stop it. Atlantic City Electric, with the law on its side, wanted to install a 10-mile transmission line in the middle of rural eastern Vineland. Pete Steenland, a prominent businessman in town, already was organizing residents in opposition. Despite his skepticism, Flaim joined in. Then something unexpected happened.

A coalition of electrical-power interests will ask federal regulators to come to their rescue after Gov. Christie signed a bill subsidizing power-plant construction that they say will undermine the region's energy markets. Without fanfare, Christie late Friday signed a bill that guarantees New Jersey consumers will support electricity prices for several new power plants. The legislation was sponsored by supporters of LS Power Development L.L.C., which proposes to build a $1 billion natural-gas plant in West Deptford.

A coalition of electrical-power interests is encouraging New Jersey Gov. Christie to veto a controversial bill that would subsidize development of a Gloucester County power plant that they say would unsettle the region's energy markets. The bill's sponsors said the legislation approved Tuesday by the New Jersey Legislature would lower energy rates. But opponents, including power generators such as Exelon Corp. and large industrial consumers, call it an anticompetitive sweetheart deal that will cost consumers in the long run. "We cannot afford an energy surcharge to guarantee billions of dollars of revenue to a few select developers," said George M. Waidelich, vice president of energy operations for Safeway Inc., which says it now spends about $2 million a year on electricity for its five Genuardi's stores in South Jersey.

Think of it as Mother Nature's economic stimulus. Electricity consumption has dropped dramatically this summer because of the mild weather, and it is translating into more manageable electric bills. PJM Interconnection, the regional grid operator, says electricity demand in the mid-Atlantic states was down 13.5 percent in June compared with last year. Peco Energy Co. customers used 14.9 percent less power in June than they did a year ago, and sales are off 2.5 percent for the first six months of the year, according to PJM. Public Service Electric & Gas, the New Jersey utility, sold 17 percent less power in June, and 4.5 percent less for the year.

PJM Interconnection said yesterday that, as electricity use soared Wednesday, the region's power grid set a record in the amount of peak need that was met by so-called demand response, in which power customers are paid market rates to curtail consumption. With high temperatures and humidity across the eastern portion of its 13-state electricity pool, PJM said demand topped 139,700 megawatts - less than the record of 144,644 megawatts set Aug. 2, 2006, but the highest so far this year.