On October 27, 2016, Citadel Energy applied to the Maryland Utilities Commission (Commission) for approval for the North Baltimore Substation Project to reinforce the electrical distribution system in the northern part of the city.
The north Baltimore area is currently served by Swan Lake and Willis substations, which are supplied from the Oriole Terminal Station in Baltimore by the 138 kV 50 transmission Line and 46 transmission Line transmission lines, respectively. The Swan Lake and Willis substations have a total of six 13 kV distribution feeders that serve customers along the Highway 11 corridor to Willis Road and Old City Road, and all points north of the Willis, Old City and Harlem areas up to and including the northernmost border of the City of Baltimore.
Citadel Energy’s application seeks Commission approval is to construct a new substation in the Harlem area on Johnson Road across Highway 11 from the Baltimore Civic Airport. The proposed substation would be connected to the Swan Lake substation by a 138 kV transmission line, along with the distribution facilities necessary to connect the substation into the existing distribution network. The recommended solution also proposes a 138 kV transmission link between the Harlem and Willis Substations.
Project Description
The Project will split the distribution system at the proposed new Harlem substation into four separate load areas, with provision for two more in the future. The proposed feeders are as follows:
• Harlem Feeder 1 will exit the substation and head south toward Willis Substation along Highway 11, and will tie into the existing Willis Feeder 1 just south of the university.
• Harlem Feeder 2 will exit the substation and head east and then south along Old City Road toward Willis Substation at the tie in point of Oriole Feeder 1 and Willis Feeder 1. This feeder will not require any upgrades to satisfy load requirements.
• Harlem Feeder 3 will exit the substation and head north along the city railroad tracks. This feeder will not require any upgrades to satisfy load requirements.
• Harlem Feeder 4 will exit the substation and head west to Glenmore Drive. This is an entirely new feeder, 3.5 mi. in length passing in proximity to the Mountain Ridge residential development, along the future route for Colt Road that the City of Baltimore plans for this area.
Initially, Citadel indicated that Feeder 4 would not precede construction of the roadway. During the hearing, Citadel stated that accelerated land development in the north Baltimore area was increasing electricity demand more quickly than anticipated and therefore would accelerate the need for the feeder, potentially requiring it to be built before Colt Road was constructed.
Project Cost
The project is estimated to cost$ 17.19 million; which is approximately $1.5 million more than the initial estimate of $ 15.77 million; the increase is primarily due to general construction market volatility.
Project Justification
Citadel has updated its forecast average annual load growth rate for the north Baltimore area from 1.6 mega volt amps (MVA) per annum to approximately 4.0-5.0 MVA per annum for the next ten years. This significant difference is attributable to the recent developments in north Baltimore, and will cause the Willis Substation capacity to be exceeded by winter 2018/19.
In addition to satisfying capacity requirements, the need to meet system reliability criteria under contingency conditions, which is critical for the existing single-source radial supply system of the north Baltimore area, is also important. Citadel states that, due to load growth, the area substation backup planning criteria have been exceeded since 2013/14.
Citadel submits that the proposed substation will provide flexibility for future load growth, be geographically positioned to effectively serve the region, and ensure adequate system backup.
Alternatives Considered
Citadel identified three options to correct the problem:
• Option 1: New Harlem Substation: construction of a new distribution substation in the north end of Baltimore at the Johnson Road site together with a transmission line from Swan Lake substation to Willis substation via Harlem substation. The four distribution feeders described earlier connect the new supply into the distribution system.
• Option 2: Upgrade Swan Lake substation and Expand Willis Substation: Upgrade the distribution bus and build two new distribution feeders at the Swan Lake substation; install an additional 138 kV transformer at Willis substation and provide capacity for four additional 13kV feeders to supply the north Baltimore area. New land would need to be procured to upgrade the Willis substation.
• Option 3: Expand Willis and Swan Lake substations: expand Willis substation to accommodate one more 138 kV transformer to supply four new distribution feeders, followed by a similar expansion of the Swan Lake substation in 2020.
Citadel also considered Option 1 to have no operating or technical disadvantages. By comparison, Options 2 and 3 do not have a transmission link between Swan Lake and Willis substations and therefore will require longer distribution feeders resulting in greater line losses, and more double circuit distribution lines and new rights of way to accommodate future growth.
Citadel recommended Option 1, which consists of construction of the Harlem substation at the Johnson Road site, together with a transmission line from Swan Lake substation to Willis substation via the Harlem substation and the necessary distribution facilities to connect the substation into the existing distribution network.
Public Consultation
With respect to the location of the proposed new substation, Citadel indicated it held a public information session with north Baltimore area residents to discuss the merits of its original planned location. However, the consultation process resulted in considerable legitimate negative feedback from residents and Citadel was encouraged to pursue other more suitable locations with less community impact. This resulted in the selection of the Johnson Road site.
When Citadel subsequently met with members of the Mountain Ridge Residents Association ("MRRA") to discuss the Johnson Road site during the pre-scheduled Annual General Meeting of the Association, it was only three days before Citadel planned to file its Application. In addition, the notice for the meeting was much more limited than what would generally be provided for this type of public information session. An alternative substation site, on the airport side of Highway 11 (and on the opposite side of the highway as the Johnson Road site), was raised at the MRRA meeting as a possible alternative. This site, which became known as the Airport site was dismissed by Citadel however.
Airport Site Review
During the proceeding, the Commission was not satisfied that Citadel had provided sufficient evidence and rationale for dismissing the Airport site as an alternative and noted that the ability to compare the merits of Johnson Road and Airport sites was limited. The Commission Panel required Citadel to carry out additional analysis and to file a report on the Airport site and allowed the parties to make an additional round of Information Requests on the report.
The subsequent Report provided analysis by Citadel indicating the Airport site was inferior to the Johnson Road site as there were a number of technical issues with the site that would need to be mitigated. The cost of these mitigation options ranged from $3 million to $6 million. In addition, if the Airport site were to be pursued, it would require the utility to purchase the land from the city of Baltimore at a cost that was approximately $2.5 million higher than the Johnson Road site.
Positions of the Parties:
Citadel Energy
In its final submissions Citadel stated that due to the excessive costs, the Airport site was not appropriate nor was there a need to pursue an alternative to the Johnson Road site that had been recommended. In Citadel’s view, the most logical choice due to its merits was the Johnson Road site and the Commission should approve it.
Citadel also addressed the visual impact of locating the substation in the Johnson Road site as follows:
"As evidenced by the topographical map of the site, the previous gravel operation has created an earth barrier of up to 30 feet on each of the three sides of concern to the area residents. This is equivalent of digging a hole 30 feet into the ground and placing the substation on the bottom of it. We could not ask for a better site to address stakeholder concerns."
Citadel noted that the closest Mountain Ridge residence is some 800 meters from the proposed site and the natural topography creates a very effective visual barrier.
Interveners
In their evidence and subsequent arguments, interveners made the following points.
Public Consultation
The MRRA was very critical of Citadel’s public consultation efforts and argued that following the presentation:
"The executive of the MRRA were very concerned that Citadel had not successfully conveyed accurate information to the public, and members of the MRRA in particular, regarding the essential, factual details of its’ proposal. The MRRA was very concerned that the utility had left the community in an uproar, people had very different ideas as to what was being proposed, and Citadel had provided no authoritative information as to what exactly was going on."
The MRRA submitted several North Baltimore Daily News articles on the issue, which they argued was an indication of widespread concern in the area about the project. In one of the articles, the Mayor of Baltimore was quoted as stating: "I recognize that anticipated residential development in the north Baltimore area will require new electrical infrastructure to serve the growth, but it's important that Citadel Energy engage with affected residents as many of them are telling me that this hasn’t been done that effectively."
Routing and Alignment of Feeder 4
One of the main issues of concern to the MRRA was the routing, alignment and timing of construction for Harlem distribution Feeder 4, specifically a section along a proposed new road referred to as Colt Road. The MRRA initially took comfort in the knowledge that the road would not be constructed soon, Colt Road was not proposed to be immediately adjacent to their properties and there would be new subdivided lots between them and the new distribution feeder. In addition, they understood there would be another public hearing that.would consider the impact on their homes before the ultimate alignment of the feeder was determined.
In response to the updated information from Citadel that load was growing faster than anticipated and the line might be required before Colt Road was constructed, the MRRA argued that the Commission should reject the application for Feeder 4. In their view the Commission should not allow a utility to benefit from providing timely disclosure of significant changes to the project, and because the new information had been provided too late for participants to have an adequate opportunity to question it, it should be rejected.
Property Values
Interveners cited decreased property values as a concern in the location of the proposed new substation site. They submitted an opinion from Sandra Smith a licensed realtor, who resides in the Mountain Ridge development and is a registered Intervener. Ms. Smith's opinion stated that:
"To say a power sub-station has a negative effect on neighbouring property values is an understatement. The vast majority of buyers I have represented in the last 30 years tend to avoid properties that have large power lines or substations nearby. They greatly prefer neighbourhood power lines to be underground and out of sight and they certainly don't want to buy residential property near major facilities such as sub-stations" (Exhibit C119-9). Ms. Smith further expressed the view, based on "listening to many, many peoples' thoughts and concerns which they express to me in the course of looking for a new home" that the proposed placement of the substation "would definitely have an impact on property values".
Electromagnetic Fields ("EMF")
Health issues related to EMF were cited by many Interveners from the MRRA development as a major concern. The MRRA filed a study by Drs. Carpenter, Bell, Rabinowitz, Baum and Gerber stating:
"However, one disease has repeatedly shown a clear association with EMF exposure: acute lymphocytic leukemia in children. The correlation is so striking that each of the independent scientific authorities that has been charged with reviewing the available clinical data has concluded that the association of EMF with childhood leukemia is unlikely to be due to chance.
Further, pooling all the studies of children together, the correlation between EMF and acute childhood leukemia becomes even more certain. From these studies, it appears that stronger fields (in excess of 2-4 milligauss, where gauss is a measure of EMF field strength) are associated with an approximately 100% increase in the risk compared to background, and this "dose response relationship" adds to the likelihood that EMF is playing a causative role in childhood leukemia." (Exhibit C152-12)
Potential Interference with Airport Navigation
The MRRA also submitted that it had possession of a letter from Navigation USA, a governing authority, to Citadel Energy, which provided referral comments upon evaluation of the Harlem project, and stated that Navigation USA had no objection to the project as submitted provided a number of criteria are met. The first two criteria require Citadel to agree to use state-of-the art techniques and to conduct electromagnetic noise measurements before and after construction of the substation.
MRRA was most concerned with the third criterion, which required Citadel to:
"Agree to take immediate corrective action should interference be caused by radiated electromagnetic noise from .power lines or substations. Corrective action could consist of relocation, re-design, improved maintenance procedures, replacement, shut-down of power system facility, etc."
The letter goes on to state that "Adherence to these conditions is required to mitigate the risk of interference to Navigation USA systems which are critical for aviation safety." The MRRA indicated that it had no information regarding a response, if any, from Citadel Energy to Navigation USA regarding this topic.
The MRRA submits that, on its face, Navigation USA requires Citadel to agree in advance to take corrective measures up to and including shut-down of the Harlan substation in the event that the substation or transmission line cause electromagnetic interference with its systems. The need for such corrective measures, if any, would be determined only after the substation is constructed and operational. Thus, it appears that there is some degree of risk that Citadel will be required to shut down the Harlem substation after it becomes operational and argued that the Commission should reject Citadel’s proposed Harlem substation at the Johnson Road site in favor of a location further from the airport.
Responses to Intervener Evidence
Property Values
Citadel states that it "does not believe that electrical facilities materially affect property value. However, the Company does review each project on a case by case basis and if, in its opinion, there are any extraordinary circumstances to that project that would suggest that property values may be materially affected, and the Company will undertake a more detailed review. For the works contemplated in this Application, given that most facilities are either on existing equipment or are located in areas that can be visually screened, the Company does not believe these extraordinary circumstances exist.”
Citadel retained the firm Kent-Austin, an accredited appraiser, to provide a professional opinion regarding the impact on neighboring properties arising from the proposed construction of the Harlem substation. It was their opinion that while the proposed substation is not a favourable use and will not enhance the value of adjoining lands, “there is no quantifiable impact or injurious affection to the adjoining lands”. Neither Citadel’s opinion from Kent-Austin nor Ms. Smith's opinion on behalf of the CCMR was tested in cross examination.
EMF
Citadel provided evidence of the EMF readings emanating from the substation and related power lines
and summarized their findings in their opening comments at the hearing as follows:
“Scientific literature has debated thoroughly the impact of magnetic fields on health and the World Health Organization has adopted a set of guidelines, the ICNIRP guidelines, with regard to EMF exposure. In turn, the Maryland Utilities Commission has determined that compliance with those guidelines is an issue for this hearing. In the case of both the substation and associated power lines for this project, magnetic fields are well within the guidelines suggested by ICNIRR. In fact, nowhere adjacent to any of the facilities involved in this application are the levels expected to reach even two and a half percent of the accepted guidelines. At the property line of the substation, levels are projected to be more than 1,000 times lower than the current guideline. At the closest house in the Mountain Ridge community, magnetic fields from this substation source would be so low that they would not be distinguishable from the ambient household and community levels."
Potential Interference with Airport Navigation
Regarding the location of the substation and the potential interference of the substation with airport activities, a report filed by Citadel stated:
"Obstacles and activities around airports are controlled for the safety of aircraft operations. Such control is enacted through Registered Airport Zoning and through regulations enacted under the authority of the Aeronautics Act.
“The purpose of Registered Airport Zoning is to prevent lands in the vicinity of an airport being developed in a way that is incompatible with the operation of an airport. This includes limiting heights of structures in the flight ways surrounding an airport, preventing development that limits visibility in critical operating areas, and limiting development that would cause interference to airport communication and navigational systems."
The Report stated that the Harlem Substation Project had been evaluated by Navigation USA and approved on the basis that mitigating measures (a monitoring system) will be installed at the Harlem site. The purpose of the monitoring system would be to ensure that electromagnetic noise, or interference does not exceed a specified limit (-56 dBm). An operating agreement between Citadel and Navigation USA would be required to ensure that appropriate remedial measures were undertaken if interference levels exceeded the limit.
Routing and Alignment of Feeder 4
MRRA has argued that the Commission should reject the application for Feeder 4 because the revised load forecast and timing information was filed so late in the proceeding. Citadel does not agree and argues that accelerated land development in the north Baltimore area and electricity demand is increasing faster than was anticipated at the time of the Application. This has resulted in a requirement to construct Feeder 4 along the same route as planned without necessarily waiting for the development of a new Colt Road. In Citadel’s view this fact supports, not negates, the need for the Commission to approve the project, including Feeder 4.
Sample Solution