PJM’s Massive Grid Evolution

The electric grid in in America’s northeast industrial heartland
is in the midst of profound transformation. In this episode of
Grid Talk, host Marty Rosenberg talks with Kenneth Seiler who is
vice president for PJM Interconnection. 


Seiler talks about how the electric system is rapidly evolving
with PJM evaluating 2,700 new major grid related projects. 


“We just went through the interconnection reform process to get
those most-ready projects out the door.” said Seiler.


There are some difficult challenges to getting new projects
connected to the grid.


“There’s a lot of energy being put on this right now to address
any number of these issues whether it’s the queue reform and the
bottlenecks that we’re experiencing based on the volumes we’ve
been seeing; whether it’s supply chain issues; whether it’s the
financing; whether it’s local opposition.” 


Within PJM, there are 1,500 generation units touched by the
transmission grid. 


“With the amount of renewables that we’re seeing with solar and
wind and storage facilities, that number will increase greatly,”
Seiler said. 


“I don’t know what that number will be in the next five years but
I will tell you that a lot of the people who are looking to build
solar panels and solar farms right now are looking to
interconnect at the same exact spot where we have a retired
fossil unit,” he said.


Kenneth Seiler has been with JPM Interconnection for 23 years. He
is responsible for all activities related to resource adequacy,
generation interconnection, interregional planning and
transmission planning, including the development of the Regional
Transmission Expansion Plan.


Prior to joining PJM, Seiler worked for Metropolitan Edison
Company/GPU Energy for nearly 14 years in various operations and
engineering roles. Seiler earned a Bachelor of Science in
electrical engineering from The Pennsylvania State University and
a Master of Business Administration from Lebanon Valley College.