Invenergy's Krista Mann is touring Missouri County Commissions and making all sorts of promises. But are they promises Grain Belt Express can keep? Or are they just empty promises serving as a carrot on a stick to lure Missouri in for the kill?
In Monroe County last week, Mann said that GBE will now add cell sites to its electric transmission towers, in addition to its earlier promise to add broadband. Was she just trying to sweeten her prior promise that simply fell flat? Let's hope the addition of cell sites is one of those promises that doesn't actually materialize.
In Monroe County last week, Mann said that GBE will now add cell sites to its electric transmission towers, in addition to its earlier promise to add broadband. Was she just trying to sweeten her prior promise that simply fell flat? Let's hope the addition of cell sites is one of those promises that doesn't actually materialize.
Remember the MO DOT report concerning corrosion of nearby underground metallic infrastructure caused by DC transmission lines? GBE claimed that its bipolar construction would limit that effect on parallel gas pipelines, although that did little to allay the concerns of potential host landowners who would have to live and work around the parallel infrastructure.
Well, guess what?
Well, guess what?
Three engineers found that cell sites on electric transmission towers can lead to corrosion on underground wiring.
So adding cell sites to GBE would directly cause corrosion on parallel, underground metallic infrastructure, such as wiring? Would that exacerbate the amount of corrosion on adjacent pipelines as well? Well, gee, thanks for the offer to put bombs on your transmission towers, GBE. Seems like this idea needs a bit more research. Gotta wonder if Invenergy's engineers have even vetted this idea, or is Mann just making up stuff that she thinks Missouri wants to hear?
If Missouri suddenly falls in love with GBE because it will provide broadband and cell sites (of course, this will never happen) what are the chances of it actually happening? Seems pretty slim. Seems more like Mann is just making empty promises.
And speaking of empty promises... Mann told the audience in Monroe County that Invenergy continues to have discussions (that are going well) with commercial companies to have Missouri be a bigger part of the project, possibly delivering all its power to Missouri. Oh, c'mon! What does Missouri need with 3,500 MW of unreliable wind power from Kansas and Oklahoma? And which Missouri utilities are going to pay above cost for transmission capacity in order to cover the "savings" GBE promised to municipalities in order to get them to sign a contract?
Reality check... maybe Invenergy doesn't intend to build its project through Illinois to connect to the east coast electric market? Perhaps they've finally seen the impossibility of getting a permit from Illinois? Congratulations, Invenergy! However, chances of finding customers for 3,500 MW of transmission capacity in Missouri are even more impossible. It's not happening.
And here Invenergy sits holding the rotten hot potato it purchased from Clean Line Energy Partners. It's a project that can't work as envisioned. It's a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Invenergy thinks if it pounds its hammer hard enough, the peg is eventually going into the hole. Invenergy is now trying to change the project to make it work. And Invenergy is now threatening to open its wallet to begin acquiring easements across Missouri, even though its project currently has no end point.
Sounds like a pig in a poke to me.
Is Invenergy really about to spend millions of dollars gambling on a project that has no end point and no customers? That would make the company just plain old stupid, in my opinion. Or does Invenergy have a plan that has yet to be revealed? What if it decides not to sell capacity on GBE after all and simply uses GBE as its own private generation lead line to sell its own power generation at a point in Missouri? That's not a public use, it's a private driveway. But if GBE had already acquired easements using the threat of eminent domain before changing its project, would it have to give them back? Not if the easements were entered into voluntarily. Beware, Missouri, there may be more here than meets the eye. GBE is making illogical promises that perhaps it can't keep.
If Missouri suddenly falls in love with GBE because it will provide broadband and cell sites (of course, this will never happen) what are the chances of it actually happening? Seems pretty slim. Seems more like Mann is just making empty promises.
And speaking of empty promises... Mann told the audience in Monroe County that Invenergy continues to have discussions (that are going well) with commercial companies to have Missouri be a bigger part of the project, possibly delivering all its power to Missouri. Oh, c'mon! What does Missouri need with 3,500 MW of unreliable wind power from Kansas and Oklahoma? And which Missouri utilities are going to pay above cost for transmission capacity in order to cover the "savings" GBE promised to municipalities in order to get them to sign a contract?
Reality check... maybe Invenergy doesn't intend to build its project through Illinois to connect to the east coast electric market? Perhaps they've finally seen the impossibility of getting a permit from Illinois? Congratulations, Invenergy! However, chances of finding customers for 3,500 MW of transmission capacity in Missouri are even more impossible. It's not happening.
And here Invenergy sits holding the rotten hot potato it purchased from Clean Line Energy Partners. It's a project that can't work as envisioned. It's a square peg trying to fit into a round hole. Invenergy thinks if it pounds its hammer hard enough, the peg is eventually going into the hole. Invenergy is now trying to change the project to make it work. And Invenergy is now threatening to open its wallet to begin acquiring easements across Missouri, even though its project currently has no end point.
Sounds like a pig in a poke to me.
Is Invenergy really about to spend millions of dollars gambling on a project that has no end point and no customers? That would make the company just plain old stupid, in my opinion. Or does Invenergy have a plan that has yet to be revealed? What if it decides not to sell capacity on GBE after all and simply uses GBE as its own private generation lead line to sell its own power generation at a point in Missouri? That's not a public use, it's a private driveway. But if GBE had already acquired easements using the threat of eminent domain before changing its project, would it have to give them back? Not if the easements were entered into voluntarily. Beware, Missouri, there may be more here than meets the eye. GBE is making illogical promises that perhaps it can't keep.
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