FirstEnergy, Dominion, American Electric reach joint planning agreement

FirstEnergy Corp. (FE), Dominion Energy Virginia (D) and American Electric Power (AEP) have entered into an innovative joint planning agreement to propose several new regional electric transmission projects across multiple states within the PJM footprint. The innovative collaboration comes at a time when efficient and cost-effective regional transmission development is essential and encouraged by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the independent federal agency that regulates the interstate transmission of electricity. Power demand in the PJM region is growing at an unprecedented pace due to rapid expansion of energy-intensive industries such as data centers, the electrification of transportation and heating, and increased manufacturing onshoring. At the same time, the region’s power generation mix is changing as legacy generation is retired and more renewables are added to the grid. The companies jointly proposed the projects through PJM’s Regional Transmission Expansion Plan Open Window process in September. PJM is the regional transmission organization that coordinates the transportation of wholesale electricity across a 13-state region. The proposed projects include several new 765-kV, 500-kV and 345-kV transmission lines in Virginia, Ohio and West Virginia. The projects remain in the early stages of development. If selected by PJM, the companies would then undertake an extensive, multi-year process to select routes, perform environmental studies, engage with communities, obtain state and local permitting and build the projects. In addition to the joint proposals, each of the three companies have also submitted individual proposals for other transmission projects consistent with how each company has participated in past PJM open windows.