News Release
Contact: Barry Dillon
Phone: (770) 270-7835
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Community Groups Examine Transmission Line Siting Research
GTC, EPRI Conduct Final Workshop And Begin Preparing Final Report
TUCKER, Ga. -- More than 25 community stakeholder groups gathered here March 10 with Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to evaluate a national transmission line siting research effort that promises to deliver a standard process for selecting transmission line corridors.
The meeting was the final of four workshops conducted as part of an effort to develop a standard geographic information system (GIS) tool and business processes for improving site selection. Called the EPRI Transmission Line Siting Methodology Research Project, it is scheduled to conclude in June with a supporting software program and report to the industry. Workshops were held with Georgia's Integrated Transmission System (ITS) participants, government agencies, utilities, elected officials and community organizations from Georgia and neighboring states.
The one-day March workshop featured an overview of a proposed siting method and the supporting software program. The method being evaluated was developed with these same groups at a workshop last year. Participants represented agribusiness, chambers of commerce, educators, regional development agencies, local governments, environmental and conservationist groups, homeowners and planners.
"Throughout the country, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, electric utilities and state regulatory agencies are under pressure to help the electric utility industry become more accountable in its site-selection processes," said Bob Fox, GTC manager of Transmission Projects. "We believe the method we've developed with EPRI is impartial, consistent and addresses the relevant issues that participants said were most important."
The proposed siting method includes identifying avoidance areas, calibrating and weighting siting criteria and developing potential transmission line corridors based on that information. The software program utilizes satellite imagery and GIS analysis to select macro corridors and create alternate routes.
For GTC's purposes, the weighting criteria are based upon input from external stakeholders and ITS members, which consist of GTC, Georgia Power Company, MEAG Power and the city of Dalton. The research was led by EPRI and Dr. Joseph Barry, University of Denver, Dr. Steven French, Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Elizabeth Kramer, University of Georgia and Dr. Paul Zwick, University of Florida.
"We have received excellent participation in this project with more than 200 stakeholders attending our workshops, and this has been key in the successful development of our methodology," said John W. Goodrich-Mahoney, EPRI program manager. "We plan to keep stakeholders engaged and involved. Once we've tested the methodology in real-time for one year, we will revisit its effectiveness with stakeholders for possible revisions."
GTC is a not-for-profit cooperative with more than $1 billion in assets, providing electric transmission service to 39 electric membership cooperatives throughout Georgia. EPRI is a nonprofit organization that manages global research, technology development and product implementation.
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