Posted at the suggestion of Brattleboro's Ralph Meima ...plenty of fodder here for conversation.

Let's "open thread" it for now.

New Power Lines Unnecessary, Says Electric Industry Expert

Contact: Tom Clynes: 802-257-3018, tomclynes@mindspring.com

June 12, 2008

Brattleboro -- Veteran electric industry expert Kurt Yeager filed
testimony this week with the Vermont Public Board in which he stated
that the proposed VELCO Southern Loop Coolidge Connector power line
upgrade “would be a step backward,” and would “have the result of
encouraging growth in consumption, decreased energy independence and
higher rates for Vermonters.”

“I see no compelling logic that points to a doubling of the capacity of
the Coolidge Connector line as a reasonable and cost-effective solution
to [Vermont’s] electric reliability concerns,” said Yeager, who directs
the non-profit Galvin Electricity Initiative and is president emeritus
of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). “In the year 2008,
additional power lines should be the option of last resort. With so
many superior-technology options available, this project would
represent a significant step backward.”

The Coolidge Connector refers to the expansion of a 51-mile power line
stretching from Vernon to Cavendish. The Coolidge Connector is the most
controversial component of the Southern Loop Project, since it would
involve building an additional 345-kilovolt power line alongside the
existing line, nearly doubling the cleared right-of-way running through
Vernon, Guilford, Brattleboro, Dummerston, Newfane, Brookline,
Townshend, Grafton, Windham, Andover, Chester, Ludlow, and Cavendish.
Costs of the project are estimated between $200 million and $300
million.

Vermont Electric Power Co. (VELCO) and Central Vermont Public Service
(CVPS) are seeking approval from the Public Service Board, claiming
that the expanded line is needed to address growing power demand and
reliability throughout the region. But Yeager termed the reliability
rationale “disingenuous.”

“It is somewhat disingenuous that Velco’s proposal has been presented
as an ‘upgrade,’” said Yeager. “Rather than ‘upgrading’ the grid,
Velco’s approach seeks to simply duplicate and double the capacity of
an outmoded electromechanically controlled network – thereby locking in
more inadequate, 1950s-era technology.”

Meanwhile, said Yeager, reliability goals could be met more
cost-effectively and less disruptively through smart-grid and
non-transmission alternatives that were not considered by Velco. These
include installing digital sensors to increase capacity and optimize
the load on the grid, replacing inefficient conductors to ease thermal
and voltage constraints, and integrating distributed energy resources.

Tom Clynes, planning commission member with the Town of Brookline,
which would be affected by the proposed power lines, said: “When the
electric industry’s own top researchers are telling us that these new
power lines are unnecessary and archaic, why are we even considering
letting VELCO spend hundreds of millions of electric ratepayers’
dollars on this?”

According to Yeager, “Velco is one of several transmission providers in
northern New England seeking to build new power lines, in most cases
cloaking their proposals in questionable ‘urgent need’ and
‘reliability’ language,” even though the region has comparatively
little projected growth in demand.

Clynes, a journalist who covers energy policy, said, “The companies’
motivation may have less to do with reliability and meeting demand than
with their investors’ desire to capitalize on new transmission capacity
incentives offered to transmission providers under the Bush/Cheney
Energy Policy Act of 2005.”

“The more lines they are allowed to build,” said Clynes, “the more
electrons they can pump through them – and the more profits they can
recover from ratepayers, under the new rules. That may be good for
their European investors, but it’s counter to the interests of
Vermonters, who have expressed a desire for more efficiency and
conservation – especially now, in the face of climate change.”

Yeager added: “Taking into account the new FERC New England capacity
payment rules, which allow transmission providers to recover a higher
than historically normal rate of return, indicators are that the
project would likely have the result of encouraging growth in
consumption, decreased energy independence and higher rates for
Vermonters in the medium and long-term.”

“Vermont currently has the cleanest electrical grid in the country,”
Yeager said, “with a tradition of innovation and leadership in the
public utilities arena. Vermonters themselves have clearly expressed a
preference for efficiency, conservation, non-transmission alternatives,
and the latest technology. Now, the rest of the country is looking to
Vermont for energy policy leadership.”

Yeager said his testimony reflects 35 years of experience in analyzing
and developing technology for the nation’s electric power system, as
president and chief executive officer of the Electric Power Research
Institute (EPRI), and as director of the non-profit Galvin Electricity
Initiative, which is focused on transforming the reliability and value
of U.S. electricity service. Yeager, based in Aptos, California, is
also the chair of the World Energy Council Study on Energy and Climate
Change, and a Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development.

Other less-controversial Southern Loop project components include
expanded substations in Cavendish and West Dummerston, the new Vernon
substation, and a set of synchronous condensers in the Stratton area.