Participants in the North Carolina Transmission Planning Collaborative (NCTPC) have achieved a major milestone with the publication of their first single Collaborative Transmission Plan for North Carolina. Participants include Duke Energy Carolinas, Progress Energy Carolinas, North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation and ElectriCities of North Carolina.

The regional scope of the planning study includes a base reliability analysis as well as analysis of potential resource supply options. The purpose of the base reliability analysis is to evaluate the transmission system's ability to meet load growth projected for years 2011 through 2016. The purpose of the resource supply analysis is to evaluate transmission system impacts for various resource supply options to meet future native load requirements. The 2006 NCTPC study identified 16 major transmission projects totaling more than $400 million in capital investment, which are included in the 2006 Collaborative Transmission Plan released on Jan. 25, 2007. Major projects are defined as those requiring investments in excess of $10 million.

The 2006 report can be viewed on the NCTPC Web site at http://www.nctpc.org/nctpc under the Reference Documents section.

The major transmission projects identified in the 2006 Collaborative Transmission Plan are expected to be implemented over the 10-year planning horizon by the transmission owners to preserve system reliability and improve economic transfers. These planned projects are subject to change based on evolving system conditions which is why this is an annual planning process that factors in new system information as conditions change. Work has already begun on the 2007 study and those Collaborative Transmission Plan results are expected to be published at the end of this year.

"The NCTPC is an excellent example of how the regional planning obligation can be coordinated with existing state planning processes," said Jim Kerr, commissioner on the North Carolina Utilities Commission and president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).

The NCTPC was established in May 2005 to provide the participants and other stakeholders an opportunity to participate in the electric transmission planning process for North Carolina, and to develop a single coordinated transmission plan for North Carolina electric utilities that includes reliability and enhanced transmission access considerations. Serious effort is given to appropriately balance costs, benefits and risks associated with the use of transmission and generation resources.

"The NCTPC has been successful in bringing the participant utilities together to better plan to ensure reliability and access to benefit the state," said Clay Norris, NCTPC chair, ElectriCities of NC, Inc.

The NCTPC process includes active participation of other market participants and other stakeholders through a Transmission Advisory Group (TAG), which is open to all interested parties.

The NCTPC process includes the use of an Independent Third Party (ITP) consultant to act as a facilitator for the development and conduct of the NCTPC process. This role includes Chairing the TAG and soliciting input from the other stakeholders through the open TAG meetings.