SERTP Transmission Planning Falls Short

Image courtesy of Carla Wosniak under Attribution 2.0 Generic Deed, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.

According to a new report published by the Brattle Group, the Southeast Regional Transmission Planning (SERTP) organization is falling behind other U.S. regions when it comes to transmission planning and expansion.

All told, Southeast utilities are expected to require 80 GW of new generation over the next decade to accommodate an expected 20 GW of load growth over this same period.  Unfortunately, SERTP is the only region that has not approved a new regional transmission project in the past 11 years.  This portends future shortages, because power demand in the region is only going up from here.

Details of the SERTP Transmission Planning Shortfall

The current iteration of the SERTP regional transmission planning process was launched in 2007 in response to FERC orders.  It is tasked with executing transmission planning for 10 utilities across 12 states.  Unfortunately, it turns out the process is flawed and essentially doomed to failure.

The biggest failure appears to be a lack of resources – it has no independent staff – as well as an overreliance on transmission upgrades based on utility-specific local transmission planning instead of more cost effective regional and interregional transmission projects.  Simply put, the process is not able to identify the most cost-effective transmission investments.

Luckily, the report offers a few recommendations to improve the planning process:

• Improve the existing planning process by (1) increasing the transparency of assumptions and results, (2) engaging state commissions and agencies to participate in the planning process, and (3) expanding solution considerations.
• Expand SERTP planning capabilities via (1) scenario planning, (2) enhanced congestion and cost saving quantification, and (3) the utilization of more comprehensive guidelines.
• Make planning more comprehensive and proactive by (1) implementing a multi-driver approach to needs and solution identification, (2) estimate costs and benefits over the useful life of assets, and (3) establishing regional cost allocation guidelines.

In the final analysis, the SERTP transmission planning process needs to be improved.  Otherwise, the region’s utilities and residents could be left in the dark.