January 2012 Capital Investment - National Grid

Exhibit ___ (EIOP-19)Page 34 of 684Drivers:Studies of the 115kV and 345kV transmission systems were conducted for the Centralregion of central New York, which extends from Elbridge Substation in the West toOneida Station in the East, to determine whether the systems comply with reliabilitystandards. These studies were performed in 2008, and then reconfirmed in 2010, andevaluated the system for existing load levels up to a 15 year forecasted load level.Included within both of these evaluations were testing to comply with NERC TPLStandards, NPCC Regional Reliability Reference Directory #1, NYSRC Reliability Rulesand the Company’s Transmission Planning Guide (TGP 28). These standards requirethe entire transmission system to meet voltage, thermal, and stability criteria.Several reliability criteria issues for the area were discovered under study conditions.Issues include thermal overloads on 115kV circuits in the Central Region.Customer Benefits:Customers will benefit from this program in several ways, including:• Their exposure to service interruptions, some resulting from load shedding, in theevent that certain key contingencies were to occur will be reduced significantly.• Some capability to accommodate new or expanding load will be added to thesystem.2011 to 2012 Variance:The 2011 CIP projections reflect updated understanding of area system needs over2010’s Plan. The program is progressing as expected. Thus there is little variance.Table II-10Transmission – Syracuse Area ReconductoringProgram Variance ($millions)CIP FY12 FY13 FY14 FY15 FY16 FY17 Total2011 0.1 0.2 0.2 2.0 13.0 - 15.52012 - 0.2 0.2 2.0 13.0 .9 16.3D. Asset ConditionAsset Condition expenditures are those investments required to reduce the likelihoodand consequence of the failures of transmission and distribution assets, such asreplacing system elements like overhead lines, underground cable or substationequipment. During the previous ten years, the Company adopted an Asset Managementapproach that relied on a holistic, longer-view assessment of assets and asset systemsto inform capital-investment decisions. As part of this approach, the Company conductedassessments of major asset classes such as circuit breakers or subsets of asset classesII-1735