A report issued today on the "Roll-Up Integration Cases" for the Eastern Interconnection describes the efforts undertaken to ensure transmission planning activities maintain the reliability of the bulk power system and are well-coordinated among the regions. The Eastern Interconnection is a collection of power systems serving two-thirds of the United States and Canada.
This report, the latest in a series dating back to 2011, was produced by the Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative (EIPC), a coalition of 20 major transmission Planning Coordinators responsible for the planning of the bulk power grid throughout the Eastern Interconnection.
"The EIPC has completed a comprehensive update of Eastern Interconnection Planning Collaborative assessments, including results from its integrated studies and analyses on the regional transmission plans of the major systems that make up the Eastern Interconnection," said Keith Daniel, senior vice president of transmission policy at Georgia Transmission Corporation and chairman of the EIPC Executive Committee. "The report demonstrates that these regional plans work well together to maintain bulk power system reliability throughout the Eastern Interconnection."
Given the size and significant diversity within the Eastern Interconnection, the collaboration among the Planning Coordinators through EIPC marks a significant milestone in the long history of industry cooperation and coordination.
The report provides a current update of the extensive work completed by EIPC since its inception in 2009 to produce "roll-up reports" that combine the individual plans of each of the major Planning Coordinators in the Eastern Interconnection. Focusing on the horizon year of 2028, the report demonstrates that the transmission system is being planned to preserve the reliably of the Eastern Interconnection. In addition, the EIPC reports may identify potential constraints resulting from interconnection-wide power flow interactions and provide feedback to the Planning Coordinators to enhance their regional plans. The roll-up studies provide solved power-flow models suitable as a starting point for interconnection-wide transmission analysis. These models are available to policymakers, regulators and other stakeholders to analyze various future scenarios of interest.
This report, as well as other studies completed by EIPC, demonstrates that the respective Planning Coordinator transmission planning and interconnection processes have yielded transmission plans that are well-coordinated on a regional and interconnection-wide basis. EIPC studies also show that Planning Coordinators' regional transmission plans, including generator retirements and additions, will require continued study and interconnection-wide coordination to ensure that individual regional plans do not conflict with the regional plans of other Planning Coordinators.
The report that is available for use by the public can be found on the EIPC Web site at https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b1032e545776e01e7058845/t/5d7bcc99ab124176b6f8ce17/1568394394545/EIPC_Roll-Up_Report_2019_public_Final.pdf
A more detailed report is available to all stakeholders who are eligible to obtain critical energy infrastructure information (CEII) in accordance with procedures established by the EIPC.
