Using a $2 million federal grant, Pennsylvania will undertake a study of “cost effective opportunities” to add to the state’s electricity grid. The aim of the study will be evaluating the state’s energy efficiency, where new power can be brought online, and how the grid can be modernized. It will be known as the “PATER” Study, an acronym for Pennsylvania Accelerated Transmission and Energy Redevelopment.
In the next year, the study will evaluate recently-retired power plant sites, prioritizing which ones could be brought back online. Importantly, it will also investigate and map existing high-voltage transmission infrastructure in the state, identifying “where new investments would…enhance the grid through upgrades or replacements.” That could bode well for the Keystone and Conemaugh generating stations ins Shelocta and in West Wheatfield Townships. Those two plants are currently scheduled to be retired at the end of 2028 but a consent decree currently under review by the Department of Environmental Protection would extend the lives of those plants.
The study will be conducted by the public-private partnership “Team Pennsylvania”, working with the Public Utility Commission and other state agencies. Results will be published in two parts, at mid-year and by the end of December.
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