PJM reviewed the short list of proposals being considered for the 2025 Regional Transmission Expansion Plan Window 1 during the Nov. 4 meeting of the Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee (TEAC).
Sami Abdulsalam, Director – Transmission Planning, presented an overview (PDF) of the major system needs targeted by the RTEP window and details of projects being considered to meet them.
The planning window addresses separate needs in the eastern, southern and western areas of the PJM footprint. Those needs are driven by accelerated load growth in multiple regions, the addition of new generation in Virginia, the removal of New Jersey offshore wind projects, and regional flows toward the eastern and southern PJM regions.
The Dominion area, which includes parts of Virginia and North Carolina, shows multiple violations of reliability standards along its primary South-North corridor in 2032. These future reliability issues are being driven predominantly by:
- Additional generation added in southern Virginia that is flowing to the load centers in northern Virginia
- Increases in electricity demand, or load, with a heavier concentration in the northern Virginia area
- Further increase in PJM load overall – including data center load in Northern Virginia, Ohio and the PPL service territory in Northeast/Central Pennsylvania
These needs require long-lead, backbone transmission enhancements, which will take more than five years to develop.
The southern transmission backbone will support the transfer of generation resource capacity from the southern edge of the PJM system into northern Virginia and help balance flows West to East and South to North.
A total of 47 projects were proposed to address reliability needs in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Most solutions addressing the violations of reliability standards developing by 2030 involve upgrades to existing facilities or local fixes. The more comprehensive solutions are intended to solve both local and regional long-term issues expected in 2032 and beyond.
Six entities submitted 40 proposals to address the MAAC Regional and MAAC/PPL needs.
A total of 29 proposals from five different proposing entities were submitted to address violations in the west.
The total cost of the overall solution package will depend on the proposals selected, but the approximate range of costs is expected to be between $8 billion and $10 billion.
PJM initially briefed stakeholders on the submitted proposals (PDF) at the Oct. 8 TEAC meeting. PJM is targeting Board of Managers approval for chosen projects in the first quarter of 2026.
If a proposal is selected and approved, the developer of the project will create a detailed engineering, routing and siting plan; engage local communities in refining its routes; seek approval from state regulatory authorities on the siting of the route and related facilities; and build and maintain the substations and transmission lines included in its proposal.
As part of its competitive planning process, PJM regularly administers “windows,” or a set period of time for transmission developers to offer solutions to a set of transmission reliability needs published by PJM. These needs are based on standards established by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and future “violations” of these standards.
Regional transmission solutions benefit all customers in the PJM footprint, and costs are allocated based on this benefit, as directed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Solutions will be judged on multiple criteria, including:
- Performance: the ability to meet the identified system needs
- Efficiencies: avoiding redundant investment
- Scalability: robust design able to meet future needs
- Impact: utilizing existing rights-of-way where possible
- Cost: validated by third-party benchmarking metrics
- Risks: factors that might impact cost and deadlines
PJM is responsible for planning for the operation of more than 88,000 miles of transmission lines across 368,906 square miles of territory. This includes more than 1,400 electric generators.