Volunteer Joe Denault, assisted by Alisha Maddox (left) and Allison McCarty, gives the PATH facts.

Joe Denault

Joe Denault worried about deterioration of our highways when he worked for the West Virginia Department of Transportation, but he never gave a thought to the "energy" infrastructure for the region.

"I went to the web site of the American Society of Civil Engineers," he told Putnam Rotarians today, "and they had a report card.

"I was shocked to find out that our energy system is in worse shape than our highway infrastructure."

PJM Interconnection in the eastern United States manages the largest high-voltage grid in the world. The grid handles movement of wholesale electricity to all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Unless capacity is increased, there will be brownouts and blackouts within the area covered by the grid by 2015.

Denault has volunteered his time to spread the word on the need.

Part of the solution is the proposed Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline -- the PATH project -- which would extend from Putnam's John Amos Power Plant to Kemptown, Maryland.

The transmission line of 765-kilovolt capacity will extend 225 miles across West Virginia, 31 miles in Virginia and 20 miles in Maryland. There would be a large substation at Welton Spring in Hardy County where PATH would link to a 500 kV line.

New engineering technology has gone a long way to eliminate the "hum" associated with high transmission in the past and line-loss has been greatly reduced, said Denault.

"The changes will save 380,000 tons of carbon-dioxide emissions simply by using the new technology," he continued. "That's equivalent to removing 55,000 cars from the roads for a year."

Operation of the new line alone will save an additional 28,000 metric tons of carbon-dioxide a year.

Construction of PATH is a joint venture between American Electric Power and Allegheny Energy. It's $1.8 billion cost will be spread over 51 million users in 13 states.

Dr. Tom Witt of the WVU Bureau of Business and Economic Research has estimated that PATH will generate an additional $1.0 billion in business volume in West Virginia alone. The project is expected to generate 5,700 new jobs, both full-time and part-time, with an annual employee compensation of $420 million.

West Virginia will also realize $20.5 million in new tax revenue from the portion of PATH in the state, the Welton Spring substation and improvements to the John Amos Plant in Putnam.

What about alternative energy sources? Electricity from any source -- from wind farms, solar panels, or hydroelectric generation -- may be connected to the grid, said Denault.