CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A top official with the group which oversees the region’s power supply told lawmakers recently the demand for power is going to explode from what we’ve seen in recent years and West Virginia must be ready when it happens.
Dr. Sami Abdulsalam, Director of Transmission Planning for PJM Interconnection, made a presentation to lawmakers before the session began. He said PJM was revising its projections about load growth. They expected the growth of power demand would jump from a typical 1 to 1.5 percent growth each year to more than 4 percent annually.
“One of the great drivers for infrastructure development and growth in our economy and our industry is how the load is materializing. There has been an historic stagnation on how the load has been growing in the past decades, we’ve been just shy of one percent growth year over year, but currently we’re projecting and tracking four-percent plus, ” he explained. “What we have been forecasting in the terms of growth in the past year is going to be dwarfed by the 2026 forecast.”
As part of his presentation, Abdulsalam put up a slide which was a map of the mid-Atlantic and northeast region of the United States where PJM oversees the power grid. Theirs is about 25 percent of all of the nation’s power. The map showed all of the high voltage transmission lines in the PJM Territory. West Virginia was the noticeable hole in the middle with very few lines. From Charleston to Morgantown and the Ohio River to the eastern panhandle was barren of any major transmission.
“You can easily correlate how sparse and how little generation projects are showing interest inside the heart of West Virginia which could be easily correlated to the lack of major infrastructure that could attract major developments,” he explained.
Abdulsalam told lawmakers if West Virginia expects to grow into the nation’s power source again, it must address those fundamental issues of getting the power to the people in the distant markets.
“If the infrastructure is not available, it will act as an impediment toward attracting new capital,” he explained.
New transmission lines will be vital along with new power generation to meet the growing demand and get it to market. Governor Patrick Morrisey’s 50 by 50 plan depends on upgrades in the infrastructure in West Virginia. Abdulsalam said it’s going to require major investment and a strong will to go big.
“There is a major movement in West Virginia to enable a 50 by 50 policy in the next 20 to 25 years. That requires major infrastructure and this regional transmission plan is going to enable you to get there,” he said.