By: Electric Light & Power |
The Northeast Power Coordinating Council, Inc. (NPCC) released the results of its annual summer reliability assessment. The comprehensive assessment projects that the region will have an adequate supply of electricity this summer.
The forecast NPCC coincident peak demand for the summer, which is the simultaneous peak demand for the entire region, is about 0.3 percent lower than last summer’s forecast, primarily due to the effectiveness of ongoing conservation, efficiency and demand response programs, despite a rebounding economy, according to NPCC.
NPCC’s assessment also projects the region to have about the same amount of net generating resources as compared to last year’s summer peak period.
The overall reliability of the system on a day-to-day basis will be improved over the summer as a result of several significant factors: 1) the return of New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau 660 MW nuclear generating unit, which has been off-line for several years; 2) the planned addition of a 660 MW HVDC transmission line between Manhattan and New Jersey; and 3) New England’s 345kV transmission line additions.
For New York City and throughout New York State, an adequate supply of electricity is forecast. This also holds true for Ontario and New England. Finally, the winter peaking Quebec and the Canadian Maritime Provinces are expected to meet forecasted electricity demand by a wide margin.
The NPCC geographic region includes the state of New York and the six New England states as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario, Québec and the Maritime provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Overall, NPCC covers an area of nearly 1.2 million square miles, populated by more than 55 million people.
