When the Environmental Protection Agency issued the final rules for the Clean Power Plan in August 2015, it delayed the start of the interim compliance period by two years, to 2022. This reportedly was done to allow additional time to build the power and gas pipeline infrastructure that the energy industry says is needed to bring to market additional supplies of renewable energy and natural gas.

Given the lengthy permitting processes and sometimes fierce opposition to new energy infrastructure, will the additional two years be enough to get the necessary power lines and gas pipelines in place?

“Maybe for some small electric transmission jobs, but a lot has to happen before permitting takes place,” said Salvatore Falcone, Project Manager, Black & Veatch’s energy business. “If you need to build a new electric transmission line from scratch where you don’t even have a corridor, you have to go through a filing with the state public utilities commission, a lengthy process. Only when you get that piece of paper authorizing the project can you think about permitting and design,” he said.

The schedule will vary widely. If an electric utility is installing new transmission lines on existing towers, work might be able to begin relatively quickly as it is a low-impact activity, Falcone said. However, if it is a new route, there is a long road ahead.

“If you have to go through the routing, public outreach, public meetings, corporation commission approval process before you can even get started on the permitting process, you are typically talking at least one year and usually more for lines requiring completely new right-of-way,” Falcone said. “Then, depending on the size of the project and number of states involved, there could be another one to three years until you receive the permits that will allow you to build, then maybe another two years to complete construction.”

Battling the NIMBY Syndrome

With initial Clean Power Plan compliance starting in 2022, “There is now more time before you have to start, but less time to accomplish the goal,” said Dave Abrams, Senior Vice President and Director, Power Delivery, Black & Veatch’s energy business. “History tells us that it’s far more complicated and time consuming to site a transmission line than people want to accept.”

He noted that landowners and homeowners aren’t always supportive of transmission lines. Many like the concept of renewable energy, but the not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) attitude is still prevalent.

“The process is highly personal, highly political,” Abrams said. “People generally believe in the concepts of renewable portfolios until it’s in their back yard when the transmission line ruins their view. NIMBY doesn’t go away just because there’s more time.”

Gas Pipeline Siting Can Prompt Strong Opposition

The same situation exists when siting new natural gas pipelines, where fierce opposition has grown in parts of the Northeast despite the capacity crunch that has affected wintertime gas and electric pricing, particularly in New England. Nevertheless, a number of projects are progressing, putting the region on the path to compliance, according to Melvin Stroble, Registered Environmental Manager and Project Manager with Black & Veatch’s energy business.

There are many routing considerations in getting a new pipeline underway, including corridor length and width, number of landowners affected, impact to natural resources and whether it is intra- or interstate. “For an interstate gas line using the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission pre-filing process, anticipate about two years-plus, depending on complexities, for issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity,” Stroble said.

With many power generators looking to gas for their primary fuel supplies, there is a push to start getting infrastructure in place, said Rick Porter, Director of Natural Gas Pipeline Regulatory Advisory Services in Black & Veatch’s management consulting business. “There will be areas where new pipelines are built and additional capacity added in existing rights of way.”

The current areas of focus are largely in the Southeast, set to receive increasing volumes of gas from the Marcellus Shale, along with the Midwest, which will get gas supplies from the Utica Shale. In addition, Stroble noted, many transmission companies have also been modifying pipelines to be bi-directional.

EPA Sets Interim Stages

Andy Byers, Associate Vice President, Environmental Services, Black & Veatch’s energy business, noted that all the EPA has done is to delineate the interim and final emissions standards that states may adopt, and leaves it up to them to devise a program to achieve these standards beginning in 2022.

“For the interim standards, there’s a three-year period, followed by another three-year period where the standards get more stringent, followed by a two-year period where they get even more stringent, until 2030 when the final emission standards must be met,” Byers said. “Everyone has to meet that standard, no matter whether it’s with renewable energy, or using gas, or shutting down coal.”

The Clean Power Plan also has an incentive program to encourage development of more renewable energy and energy efficiency ahead of the 2022 start date. If construction is begun on a renewable energy project after the State Implementation Plan (SIP) is submitted to the EPA, then any generation from that project in 2020 or 2021 can earn additional early action credits that can be used toward compliance with the applicable emissions standard. SIPs are due to be filed in September 2016, although the EPA could grant extensions to September 2018.

“Curiously, while this program is intended to jump start renewable energy development, a power company may decide to wait to start construction of an already planned project until after the host state submits its final SIP – which could be as late as September 2018 – so they can get these additional credits,” Byers said.

Porter called the two-year extension is “an interesting notion,” but it doesn’t change the final deadlines. “Industry participants have to make a decision on how to best use the time.”

Story by Samuel Glasser, Black & Veatch 

Published originally on Black & Veatch Solutions.