The proposed multistate transmission line, Grain Belt Express, has languished before Missouri regulators for years — with their at times controversial rejections representing the last major obstacle to sending Kansas wind energy east along an intended 780-mile path.

While the overall decision on the project’s approval remains the bigger matter before the PSC, the regulatory body announced this month that it was also warming up to begin the separate process of approving its sale.

Some outside experts in Missouri speculate that Invenergy’s bid to take over the project can only help its odds of getting across the finish line.

She declined, however, to give updates or estimates about Invenergy’s anticipated, or hopeful, timeline for the project.
“I think it’s premature for us to be talking about timelines right now,” said Conley. “When we have a decision in that case (from the PSC), then we can really consider timelines and development and what the next steps for the project are.”

The project would be accompanied by the large-scale construction of new wind energy generation in western Kansas. Although about 85 percent of electricity distributed by the project would be destined for other states, it would power approximately 200,000 Missouri households. The PSC, even in denying the project through certain legal interpretations, has agreed that it is in the public interest, and would save Missouri customers millions of dollars by promoting access to cheap wind energy.

The transmission project would be the biggest, by far, that the Chicago-based company has ever undertaken. The company has developed more than 400 miles of combined transmission lines in its history, Conley said — just over half of the distance that Grain Belt would cover.

But for any prospective wind energy developer, the end of 2020 has long been a key point on the calendar.
After that point, production tax credits for completed wind projects begin to phase out. Even without receiving the full tax in their entirety, Clean Line officials previously said they felt the project would be cost-effective, thanks to technology and declining costs. Invenergy shares that belief, Conley said — full tax credits or not.

Hydro-Quebec would gladly appear before the Maine Public Utilities Commission, but it has not been invited, said spokesperson Abergel.

“The PUC is doing its own process,” Abergel said. “If the PUC were to invite us, we’d gladly intervene. We’re very willing to collaborate in that sense.”

But that’s not how the commission process works. Individuals and organizations can intervene in cases, but the commission does not invite them to the proceedings, commission spokesperson Lanphear said.

Hundreds packed a public open house convened by FirstEnergy Monday night to reveal plans for the Northern Portage Reliability Project.

The big room at Christ Community Chapel was built to hold 350 and it was so packed that people were turned away within the first half-hour of what was to be a two-hour event.
As the open house began at 6 p.m., traffic was backed up for almost half a mile between the chapel just off Ohio 306 and Ohio 82 to the south.

FirstEnergy employees, contractors and consultants staffed themed tables around the periphery of the room. They included stations entitled Engineering & Construction, Vegetation Management, Environmental, Real Estate and Route Selection. The company created a large centerpiece with big photos on easels showing various points where the company wants to put in power lines. The event was designed for people to circulate, but the crowd made navigation around the room difficult. Some attendees complained that there was no public give-and-take between the company and residents as one might have at a town-hall style event.

According to FirstEnergy, the cost to run the lines underground along the rail corridor would be three to seven times more expensive than using utility poles.

First Energy has said the underground scenario could create a 10-fold increase in the cost of the project and the above-ground rerouting would be longer that the former rail line, and would send the lines over roadways and home owners’ yards.

Jennifer Young, a spokeswoman for the company, said the lines will be carried by 60-foot wood poles and those might be reduced to 45 footers, making them lower than nearby trees.

Beach said FirstEnergy measures the viability of various routes by their potential impact on property owners. The western route could affect 111 homeowners (although the company would need right-of-way access from about half that number), and the eastern route could affect up to 177 homeowners with right-of-way access from half that number. He also said many of those properties would have utility poles going up in the front of their properties.

“We have the opportunity to build this and maintain it in the right-of-way with one parcel that’s 100 feet wide for the most part,” said Beach.

FirstEnergy is planning to construct a new 69-kilovolt transmission line to connect two substations in the Aurora area.  This new line will improve system redundancy and reliability, allowing much faster restoration times should power outages occur like those in recent years.

“Underground is about 10 times more expensive than overhead,” said Malashenko, who is the PUC safety and enforcement division director. “If we were to underground (throughout) California, all our rates would go up ten times.”

By November 29, 2018, Grain Belt shall submit evidence of its financial, managerial and technical ability to complete the Project.

Staff is directed to file a Report and Recommendation by February 6, 2019,
evaluating Grain Belt's financial, managerial and technical ability to complete the Project.

The Commission finds that a procedural conference is now appropriate to discuss filing deadlines for a procedural schedule, to include supplemental pre-filed testimony and a date for a supplemental evidentiary hearing.

After all, it would not be fair for customers in one area to consistently pay higher prices than others do simply because the system’s design prevented some customers from accessing the lowest-cost electricity.

For many years, some customers in the mid-Atlantic region, those in areas of Maryland, Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, have had to pay comparatively higher prices than customers in other areas have, because bottlenecks in the interstate transmission system have not allowed an efficient flow of the lowest-cost power into the zone.

PJM recently completed its annual review of the Transource project. Our thorough analysis of the many factors that go into benefits and costs concluded that the benefits continue to justify the costs.

The analysis considered factors such as recent load and congestion forecasts, current cost estimates, power flow projections, topology, interregional modeling, future fuel prices and generation interconnections.

During our recent review, PJM found that the Transource project also will address significant reliability issues that are emerging on the regional transmission system, including the potential overload of a key high-voltage line that carries electricity across the Pennsylvania-Maryland border.

Without the additional transmission capacity provided by the Transource project, the system could face serious violations of federal reliability standards, which would require additional measures to address.

The interstate high-voltage transmission system is a shared resource, and consumers including homeowners, tenants, businesses and industrial plants throughout the PJM footprint benefit from a robust network that provides reliable and affordable electricity across the region.

The incidental‐benefits tail mustn’t be allowed to wag the primary‐benefits dog.

A Locke Lord team led by Mitch Tiras (Houston) represented a management team at ConnectGen, LLC in the acquisition of all the non-transmission assets of Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC, which received a commitment of $100 million from Quantum Energy Partners Fund VII and will develop renewable energy projects across North America. Additional assistance was provided by Sara Longtain and Rachel Fitzgerald (both of Houston).

Ms. Desai is the President of ConnectGen LLC, a company focused on the development of wind, solar and storage projects. Prior to joining ConnnectGen LLC, Ms. Desai served as the Chief Operating Officer of Clean Line Energy Partners, LLC a developer of transmission line infrastructure projects that deliver wind energy to communities and cities that lack access to low cost renewable energy resources. Prior to that, Ms. Desai was CFO of Horizon Wind Energy, a developer, owner and operator of wind farms. Prior to that, Ms. Desai was a Director at Enron responsible for Mergers & Acquisitions. Ms. Desai began her career as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. Ms. Desai currently serves on the Executive Board of KIPP Houston and as the Chairperson of the Board of the Wind Energy Foundation. Ms. Desai holds a Master of Business Administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

Analysts report that consumers served by utilities on the nation's East and West coasts pay higher costs for their electricity than we do here.