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FirstEnergy, Dominion & AEP Propose New Transmission Projects in PJM

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FirstEnergy Corp. (FE - Free Report) , Dominion Energy (D - Free Report) and American Electric Power (AEP - Free Report) have jointly proposed to build a new transmission project spanning several states in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (“PJM”) region. The objective behind the multi-state transmission line is to support the grid, cater to the rising electricity demand from energy-intensive industries in PJM and make space for renewables to be added to the grid.

Per PJM Inside Line, PJM has released its new long-term load forecast. It predicts estimated electricity demand growth of 1.7% per year for summer peaks, 2% for winter peaks and 2.4% for net energy over a 10-year planning horizon starting in 2024.

Transmission lines are crucial for the transportation high-voltage electricity from the production area to end users. Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) provided a $425 million contract to Avangrid (AGR) to construct high-voltage transmission lines for the Aroostook Renewable Project. This high-voltage transmission line will connect 1,200 megawatts of renewable energy to the New England power grid in Maine.

Rising Power Demand From Energy-Intensive Industries

 

Demand for electricity is rising in the PJM region due to a surge in the development of energy-intensive industries. The construction of new data centers, the increasing need for electricity for transportation and heating and manufacturing onshoring are creating demand. The proposed transmission projects include several new 765-kV, 500-kV and 345-kV transmission lines in Virginia, Ohio and West Virginia, which can meet the rising demand for electricity.

Clean electricity demand is rising across industries. Data centers operate 24x7, 365 days a year, and electricity demand from these centers is destined to increase, as AI-based queries need substantially higher power than traditional Internet usage. This transmission project can be utilized to deliver electricity to these centers.

Clean Electricity Production is Rising

 

The utilities operating in the U.S. electric power sector are gradually moving toward cleaner sources of energy. Per the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the annual share of U.S. electricity generation from renewable energy sources will rise from 21% in 2023 to 23% in 2024 and touch 25% in 2025 as a result of the continuing addition of solar and wind-generating capacity.

Similarly, the PJM region's power generation mix is changing as legacy coal-based generation is retired and more renewables are added to the grid. These transmission lines will be utilized to carry the clean electricity produced from different utility-scale renewable power to customers. These utility-renewable power plants are situated far away from the actual demand zone. These transmission projects will play a crucial role in transferring the electricity.

Demand From Electric Vehicles

 

The increasing usage of electric vehicles (EV) in the United States is creating demand for electricity and the PJM region is also experiencing higher demand for electricity with the rising usage of EVs. The proposed transmission project can also benefit from the rising demand for electricity in the region.

FirstEnergy Maintains its Infrastructure Efficiently

 

FirstEnergy maintains its transmission and distribution lines that are spread across a very wide area with terrains ranging from flat agricultural land to rugged mountainous conditions, more than 3,000 feet in elevation.

FE introduced a new technology that will assist in predicting and reducing tree-related outages beforehand across its service area. Proper vegetation management is essential for transmission and distribution companies as this increases the entire system’s resiliency and reduces the possibility of outages during storms.

FirstEnergy can use its expertise to maintain these proposed transmission lines in the PJM region.

FE Stock’s Price Performance

 

In the past three months, shares of FE have gained 10.8% compared with the industry’s 9.4% growth.

 

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

FE Stock’s Zacks Rank

 

The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.


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