PJM Interconnection has reaffirmed the need to develop the Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP), a new high-voltage line in the Mid-Atlantic region with a new in-service date of 2015.

“The PJM Board requested the company to proceed with all required regulatory proceedings, siting, permitting and design of this project,” said MAPP Project Manager Bob Jubic. “The revised date is still a very aggressive timeline for a project of this size and complexity and the company will move forward to meet the new in-service date.”

“All analysis to date indicates that the MAPP project remains the preferred solution to ensure the long-term reliability of the PJM grid,” PJM Interconnection said in a letter to Pepco Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Delmarva Power and Pepco, the electric utilities tasked with building the line. PJM also has identified the required in-service date to be no later than June 1, 2015, a revision from the original date of 2014.

Since PJM’s original authorization for the project in October 2007, PHI has carefully planned for its construction. This work will continue. “With PJM’s reaffirmation, we are now well positioned to submit updated regulatory filings to the Maryland Public Service Commission this fall,” Jubic noted. In addition, PHI initiated many environmental studies which will enable the company to submit applications for permit approvals in early 2011.

PJM is the regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in 13 states and the District of Columbia. The MAPP line is needed to resolve significant reliability violations within Maryland, Delaware and the Eastern mid-Atlantic region and will run largely on existing right of way from northern Virginia, across southern Maryland, under the Chesapeake Bay and Choptank River, and through a portion of Dorchester and Wicomico counties in Maryland. The 150-mile line will end near Millsboro, Del.