Clean Line Sells Off Another Appendage

"Across the country, we are seeing clear proof of how building new efficient transmission infrastructure provides substantial benefits for consumers, through the delivery of clean renewable energy at rock bottom prices, job creation, and economic development.  We have worked to bring the Western Spirit Transmission Line and the Mesa Canyons Wind Farm to advanced stages of development in New Mexico, and are very pleased that Pattern Development will now take both projects over the finish line," said Michael Skelly, President of Clean Line Energy Partners.

The only "clear proof" here is that there's a fire sale going on down at the old fire house.  Clean Line is selling off its projects to anyone who will buy them.  And why is that?  BECAUSE CLEAN LINE ENERGY PARTNERS HAS FAILED!

And Clean Line's failure is clear proof that long-distance transmission to export wind energy across regions is not marketable.  There are no customers willing to finance such a transmission project.

First Clean Line sold the Oklahoma portion of its Plains & Eastern project to NextEra.  NextEra was only interested in the Oklahoma portion.  NextEra wasn't interested in the Arkansas and Tennessee portions, maybe because there were no customers to purchase capacity at that end.

Now Clean Line has sold its Western Spirit Clean Line and the leases for its Mesa Canyons wind farm.  That's two of Clean Line's five project proposals.  Are the other three projects for sale?  Probably, but who would buy them?

The Rock Island Clean Line has been made illegal in Iowa, and the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Clean Line is not a public utility in that state.  It can't be built.

The Grain Belt Express Clean Line has also been declared not a public utility by an Illinois appeals court.  It can't be built in Illinois.  Maybe it's time to chop that project up and try to sell a portion for pennies on the dollar?

And what of the Centennial West Clean Line?  There's no public information available about progress for that project, therefore there obviously is no progress.  Would someone buy it?

With the sale of two of its five projects now, it sure looks like Clean Line Energy Partners is finished.  If Skelly thinks having doors slammed in his face across the country is "clear proof" that his projects are wanted and needed, he's living in a self-delusional fantasy world.

Each RTO has its own system for modeling and evaluating proposed projects, and nothing is more difficult than deciding who should pay what, according to Mike Skelly, founder and president of Clean Line Energy Partners, the one company currently trying to build long-distance transmission lines in the Midwest. He offered up a restaurant analogy.

“If you go out to dinner and everybody orders different dishes, and you’ve got to figure out who’s gonna pay for what, it gets tricky,” he observed. In the inter-regional transmission world, typically a number of utilities and other customers benefit from new transmission capacity, but no one is eager to pick up the tab.

Skelly said the messy business of dividing the bill is one reason Clean Line has structured its two Midwestern long-distance transmission lines in a way that minimizes dealings with RTOs. It has proposed using DC instead of AC current, will take on power at one location and deliver it to two locations.

“We felt like the inter-regional planning processes didn’t work nine years ago, and they don’t work today,” he said.
Clean Line’s Grain Belt Express would ferry wind energy from Kansas to Indiana – and from the SPP to PJM. The Rock Island transmission line would move wind energy from northwest Iowa to the Chicago area – and from the MISO to PJM. Skelly said he knows exactly who would benefit from the project, and who, therefore, would pay for it: usually the wind farms whose electrons are moving to the east.

Except, those people don't want to pay for it.  So, if Skelly went out to dinner and pretended he had forgot to bring his wallet, could he force the other diners to pick up his tab?  I think Skelly would spend a long night washing dishes.  Or trying to sell his projects to other companies.

The rest of the projects aren't marketable in their current state.  I do make significant note that the sales Clean Line has made were to companies who saw their purchase as a strategic, rather than profitable, move.  If NextEra had an Oklahoma transmission route, it could try to compete with AEP's Wind Catcher project.  If Pattern owns its only competition in New Mexico, then it could be more certain of getting its project built.  Is there any strategic value in Rock Island, Grain Belt or Centennial West?  I believe Skelly is hoping so, because there's no other reason to keep spending money trying to prop up these failed projects to appear viable.  One thing is for certain, nobody is buying the failed Clean Line projects with the intent of building them as Clean Line envisioned.  It's more like buying a beanie baby at the thrift store to use as a dog toy.

Until the next sale....