Merchant transmission is an arrangement where a third party constructs and operates electric transmission lines through the franchise area of an unrelated utility.
Operating merchant transmission projects in the United States include the Cross Sound Cable from Long Island, New York to New Haven, Connecticut, Neptune RTS Transmission Line from Sayreville, N.J., to Newbridge, N.Y, ITC Holdings, Inc. transmission system in the midwest, and Path 15 in California. Additional projects are in development or have been proposed throughout the United States.
There is only one unregulated or market interconnector in Australia: Basslink between Tasmania and Victoria. Two DC links originally implemented as market interconnectors Directlink and Murraylink have been converted to regulated interconnectors. NEMMCO
A major barrier to wider adoption of merchant transmission is the difficulty in identifying who benefits from the facility so that the beneficiaries will pay the toll. Also, it is difficult for a merchant transmission line to compete when the alternative transmission lines are subsidized by other utility businesses.
Read more about this topic: Electric Power Transmission
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