 Transmission Siting Success Stories: Lines of Communication Were Open - By Nancy Spring and Bob Bellemare Daily IssueAlert 3/28/2005 Free Without a doubt, siting transmission lines is one of the most difficult projects electric utilities face. Back in the good old days, the march of the giant pylons was welcomed as a sign of progress. Rural areas were more sparsely populated and landowners there didn't have as much political clout. There were fewer "stakeholders" and basically, what little opposition there was could be reasonably managed. Transmission siting was often just a question of identifying a need, determining a reasonable route, deciding how to finance the project and convincing regulators that such a project was necessary. Nowadays, while there's no debate about whether transmission constraints bog down the wholesale market, there are few transmission projects proposed that go through without some kind of major public dissent. Stakeholders are better organized than they were in the past. Armed with readily accessible information from the Internet or the local media, they can mobilize more quickly than ever and drag out the approval process for years. Luckily, not all projects inspire such antagonism. In fact, in several high profile cases this past year utilities have successfully worked through the thorny issues of public opposition. These utilities are employing new and more proactive outreach techniques to establish greater public understanding and acceptance of their infrastructure projects. The result: project approvals achieved more readily and with greater community buy-in. TVA Invites Public Comments Growth in the Tennessee Valley is higher than the national average, running at about 3 percent a year and spiking to 10-12 percent in some Valley areas. The need for new transmission lines poses a challenge to the Tennessee Valley Authority. A year ago, TVA hosted eight Public Information days to discuss with residents of Montgomery County, Tenn., a proposed 30-mile 500-kilovolt transmission line that would cross the county. Nearly 15,000 area residents were invited to study maps showing proposed line routes, ask questions and provide comments on the project. TVA also encouraged one-on-one discussions with property owners to address concerns and to try to minimize the impact on landowners. "On this project, we received nearly 3,000 comments," said Roger Sparry, manager of the Transmission/Power Supply Siting & Environmental Design group. "And while the meetings were very productive, they also demonstrated that siting a 500-kV transmission line wasn't going to be as easy as it was 20 years ago - the last time TVA built one." TVA always expects opposition. "After each public meeting, we look for ways to improve the public-participation aspect of the process. We're now using the TVA Web site to provide project information and updates, including maps." A decision is expected before the end of 2005. [Editor's note: TVA's Web site address is http://www.tva.gov/power/projects/index.htm.] Success Story in Santa Fe Tempers can flare but consensus and acceptance are possible. After all, everyone agrees that transmission lines are needed to provide power to consumers. Or do they? In 2001, Public Service Company of New Mexico determined that the load growth near the north-central New Mexico communities of Santa Fe and Las Vegas had reached a point where more capacity would be necessary. As part of its standard procedure, PNM contracted with a large engineering firm to site possible routes for the lines. But in this case, PNM also hired STAR Group, a consulting firm and UtiliPoint affiliate, experienced in providing a framework for companies wanting to build consensus with all stakeholders. STAR Group uses highly developed public participation methods to involve the public in issues such as transmission siting. Rather than start from the standpoint that PNM had the solution to the problem, the utility would be asking for recommendations from the public. And, they knew going in that community leaders might not see things PNM's way. "PNM was very progressive in its thinking," noted Bill Moye, STAR Group president. "First, they were willing to acknowledge that their prior public outreach approach hadn't always produced optimum results. Second, they accepted the idea that engaging a broad spectrum of interested stakeholders in a truly collaborative fashion meant that PNM genuinely had to be willing to listen to recommendations that PNM might not advocate." They also explained to PNM that experience showed that if the utility had correctly identified the capacity shortage and the related need to build a new transmission line, this alternative would be reflected in at least one of the recommendations. STAR Group begins by forming a Leadership Team, a group of 10 individuals including two representatives from the utility. The team's initial task is to define the "focus question" to be answered by the community. Care is taken to be sure the question does not merely ask the public to ratify one alternative over another, but to be comprehensive enough that recommended solutions will "ensure sufficient and reliable power for all residents and businesses." This core group then selects 35-45 people who will attend a two-day "utility search conference." This intense event features a keynote address followed by structured activities facilitated by three certified consultants. All participants are given a technical background document prior to the conference. A report summarizing the two-day event is prepared that includes the recommendations developed by the participants. In Santa Fe, the recommendations included upgrading the existing transmission lines, conservation and developing new distributed generation sources. And, happily for PNM, the proposed transmission line began to wind its way through the permitting process. "The end result was a better set of alternatives for transmission-line routing. Also, we got a better understanding of long-range possibilities for alternative energy sources and conservation," said Roger Flynn, former COO of PNM. California Takes a Big STEP Earlier this month the California Energy Commission staff, in a draft summer electricity supply and demand report, said that the state needs more power stations and transmission lines to improve energy efficiencies. If this summer is a hot one, they say, there could be a shortage of supplies in the southern half of the state. Even though more power plants have been built in northern California, demand has grown faster in the south and grid restraints there could cause problems. Although Path 15, the transmission corridor connecting northern and southern California, has been expanded, congestion still remains farther south on Path 26. In February, the California Independent System Operator Board of Governors approved a major high-voltage power line that increases the amount of power coming in from the Southwest region of the United States to heavily populated areas of southern California. The PVD2 project is a 230-mile 500-kV transmission line that connects the Palo Verde Substation in Arizona with the Devers Substation in Southern California. Southern California Edison would be the project sponsor. The line could be energized by 2009, providing an additional 1200 MW of transmission capacity. Estimated cost: $680 million. According to a recent California ISO memorandum, the development of the Palo Verde-Devers project originated in a transmission group process called the Southwest Transmission Expansion Plan. STEP is a sub-regional planning group tackling transmission bottlenecks that constrain power coming from southern Nevada, Arizona and northern Mexico. STEP provides the forum to create a broad basis of support across state lines for the development of a robust transmission system. The group has approximately 300 members on its distribution list, with 50 or so members routinely attending the STEP meetings that are held every two months. STEP encourages participation by all interested parties in the development of transmission plans and thus tries to provide a broad basis of support for future transmission projects. In this case, STEP analyzed 26 different combinations of facilities and then proposed a series of projects. At every step of the way, the ISO encouraged the public's participation by scheduling public workshops and taking time to review and analyze alternative suggestions including one from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. STEP is now considered a model for regional grid planning in the western region. Successful Siting Stakeholders can—and will—get their information one way or another. If the utility leaves an "information" vacuum it will surely be filled by others with their own messages. That could be costly for the utility and the community in the long run. "There's a high likelihood of misunderstanding between those who want to do a [construction] project and those who'll be most affected by that project," noted John Stevens, director of Distributed Generation at Sandia National Laboratory, and a participant in the Santa Fe recommendation process. According to Stevens, focusing on the gap between the affected parties as they addressed the upcoming power delivery problems for that area helped. Energy companies will need greater community support to maintain and grow current transmission capabilities. Methods such as a utility search conference or a series of community workshops can be effective tools for breaking the deadlock between the energy industry and the public. After all, the community has a right to be concerned about something that could be there for the next 50 years. We believe that if utilities openly explore options with all stakeholders, not only will they find more success with today's projects but the utility will build long lasting bridges into the community that can make the path even smoother the next time around. Editor's Note: UtiliPoint® International has many clients in the utility business, including PNM, TVA and SCE. UtiliPoint's IssueAlerts are compiled based on the independent analysis of UtiliPoint consultants. The opinions expressed in UtiliPoint's IssueAlerts are not intended to predict financial performance of companies discussed, or to be the basis for investment decisions of any kind. UtiliPoint's sole purpose in publishing its IssueAlerts is to offer an independent perspective regarding the key events occurring in the energy industry, based on its long-standing reputation as an expert on energy issues. Copyright 2005. UtiliPoint International, Inc. All rights reserved. |
