Allegheny Energy, Inc.  and American Electric Power have announced several actions regarding the Potomac-Appalachian Transmission Highline (PATH) project in Maryland and Virginia that will further align the project’s regulatory review activities and support the companies’ efforts to complete the project by June 2014.

The project consists of a 765-kV transmission line extending approximately 275 miles from the Amos Substation in Putnam County, West Virginia, to the proposed Kemptown Substation near New Market, Maryland. In the filings:

• The Potomac Edison Co., an Allegheny affiliate, submitted a new application to the Maryland Public Service Commission requesting authorization to construct the 20-mile Maryland segment.
• PATH Allegheny Virginia Transmission Corp., also an Allegheny affiliate, asked the Virginia State Corporation Commission to allow the withdrawal of its application and to grant an immediate suspension of the current procedural schedule. PATH plans to file a new application for the 31-mile Virginia segment in early 2010.

The West Virginia Public Service Commission is also reviewing an application for authorization to construct the PATH project in West Virginia, with evidentiary hearings scheduled for October 2010. Today’s filings in Maryland and Virginia are designed to coordinate the procedural schedules in the three states and to enable the respective commissions to consider the need for the project based on the same facts.

Allegheny Energy and American Electric Power, partners in the joint venture to build the multi-state transmission line, remain committed to the PATH project. According to the most recent analysis by regional grid operator PJM Interconnection, PATH is needed by June 2014 to resolve reliability concerns on the existing transmission system.