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How You Will Pay Transmission Bribes To Your Local Government

8/27/2022

A healthy, democratic government realizes that it has no money of its own. It recognizes that all the money it spends comes out of the pockets of the taxpayers that elected that government to serve their needs.

And here we are today, clutching our wallets while an out-of-control facist government engages in a spending spree of epic proportions. And they're doing it with OUR money.

It's bad enough that your money is being used to prop up unneeded transmission projects by buying capacity the government will never use (roads to nowhere that nobody will ever use). But now your federal government is planning to spend $760M of your hard earned tax dollars trying to bribe local governments to hush up and support new transmission lines across your private property.

You are bribing your local government to screw you! That's about as boiled down as I can get it.

The inaptly named "Inflation Reduction Act", Section 50152, Grants to Facilitate the Siting of Interstate Electric Transmission Facilities, will "facilitate" the siting of new transmission lines by "promoting economic development in affected communities."

Here's how it's explained in the legislation that was recently signed into law:

a) Appropriation.--In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Secretary for fiscal year 2022, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $760,000,000, to remain available through September 30, 2029, for making grants in accordance with this section and for administrative expenses associated with carrying out this section. (b) Use of Funds.-- (1) In general.--The Secretary may make a grant under this section to a siting authority for, with respect to a covered transmission project, any of the following activities:

(2) Economic development.--The Secretary may make a grant under this section to a siting authority, or other State, local, or Tribal governmental entity, for economic development activities for communities that may be affected by the construction and operation of a covered transmission project, provided that the Secretary shall not enter into any grant agreement pursuant to this section that could result in any outlays after September 30, 2031.

(3) Economic development.--The Secretary may only disburse grant funds for economic development activities under subsection (b)(2)-- (A) to a siting authority upon approval by the siting authority of the applicable covered transmission project; and (B) to any other State, local, or Tribal governmental entity upon commencement of construction of the applicable covered transmission project in the area under the jurisdiction of the entity. (d) Returning Funds.--If a siting authority that receives a grant for an activity described in subsection (b)(1) fails to use all grant funds within 2 years of receipt, the siting authority shall return to the Secretary any such unused funds.

Let's get this straight... your State, local or Tribal government can make you pay, via your federal taxes, for "economic development activities" in exchange for tossing you under the bus. Phrased another way... your government can score "free money" by welcoming an electric transmission line across YOUR property. What skin does the state, local or tribal government have in your property? None. Absolutely none. That's why it's free money for them to throw you under the bus and make kissy face with transmission developers.

I think we've reached the pinnacle of pay to play politics. Government-funded bribes. BRIBES!
Also the pinnacle of stupidity.

Any government taking advantage of this new provision is soon to find itself booted out of office. Nobody likes being sold down river by their government, and if they will do it to your neighbor, they'll do it to you. These elected officials will be gone at the next election, and it could spread from there as local government houses are cleaned. It's poisoned, dirty money that screams of poisoned, dirty politics.

So, you may be asking yourself, where did such a stupid idea come from? It came from the stupid people who are now controlling federal energy policy, who originally thought utilities building transmission could pay bribes to local governments and then collect the cost of their bribes through electric rates. When it became apparent that bribes are not an expense that can become part of electric rates, they pivoted to make the federal government pay the bribes with your tax dollars!

Of course, this is an unproven idea. Will it work? Will state, local and tribal governments welcome community destruction, permanent impacts, eminent domain and loss of control in exchange for a one-time windfall that must be spent within 2 years or else clawed back? It's never been tested. It's a stupid idea dreamed up by stupid people. And guess who's King Stupid of this garbage dump?

Is it all starting to make sense now? We don't have a government of, for, and by the people. We have elite rich people controlling our sham government.... and they're coming for your property next.

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Grain Belt Express Seeks Government Subsidies

8/26/2022

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I'm not surprised. Are you? Grain Belt Express has never had any signed customers except for the below cost MJMEUC contract for less than 10% of the capacity it wants to make available in Missouri. But yet GBE's owners are purposefully trying to build an electric transmission line that does not have enough contracted customers to be economic. No customer, no need....

... your federal tax dollars to the rescue!!!

In its recent application to the Missouri PSC for "amendments" to its current Certificate, Grain Belt finally tells everyone who, exactly, it expects will pay for this ginormous transmission line without sufficient customer contracts.

As stated above, Grain Belt Express then intends to raise debt secured by the revenue stream from the transmission capacity contracts to raise the capital necessary to complete the remaining development activities, construct the Project and place it into operation. Grain Belt Express anticipates utilizing a combination of commercial and governmental sources of financing, and at this time is still evaluating all potential options for financing. Options for governmental sources of financing include the Western Area Power Administration (“WAPA”) Transmission Infrastructure Program (“TIP”); and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Transmission Facilitation Program; Department of Energy loans to non-federal borrowers for transmission facilities pursuant to the Inflation Reduction Act and potentially other government funding options. Additional equity capital may also be raised to help finance construction of the Project, or Grain Belt Express’ existing investors may make additional equity investments in the Project.

That's right... Grain Belt Express cannot begin to build its project until it has adequate financing to pay for the construction. Invenergy wants the Missouri PSC to hurry up and approve the "amendments" so that it can secure financing from "governmental sources". I see they casually toss in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill transmission program being put together by the U.S. DOE. That program allows the DOE to become a transmission "customer" by purchasing transmission capacity that nobody else wants. DOE isn't going to actually USE the capacity, it's just going to pay for it using your tax dollars in order to prop up a transmission project that doesn't have enough customers to be economic, like Grain Belt Express. DOE says it will sell the transmission capacity to other entities so that it can replenish its transmission slush fund, but let's think about that a bit. If nobody wants to buy transmission capacity from GBE, why would they want to buy the same capacity from DOE? The whole scheme should make a freshman economics student laugh.

It's not really government "financing"... in the case of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, it's a subsidy paid for by your tax dollars in order to build a transmission line to nowhere that nobody will ever use.

And for this they want you to give up your private property? Tell the PSC not to approve Tiger Connector and clear the way for Invenergy to apply for federal government subsidies to build a project without sufficient customer interest! Without enough customers to make the project economic, it's nothing but a useless parasite sucking Missourians dry. The PSC needs to stop approving speculative transmission projects without signed customers and interconnection agreements and enabling rich investors to fill their pockets with our hard-earned tax dollars!

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Invenergy Trips Over Its Grain Belt Lies

8/24/2022

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Investigative journalism is not dead! It can still be found digging away at the Mexico Ledger in Mexico, Missouri. Managing Editor Alan Dale smells a story and he's determined to tell it. This week, he asked Invenergy nine questions about its project, and then several follow-ups, one of which caught Invenergy in a lie (surprise! surprise!)

Here's how Dale caught Invenergy in its own lie:

Have you entered any new agreements with any potential partners or “customers” who will use the Grain Belt and the connector?
We have an existing contract with a consortium of 39 Missouri communities to take power from the Grain Belt Express at an annual savings for $12.8 million, and we see very strong market interest in transmission capacity from the line, which is one factor in the recent announcement to expand local delivery capacity.
Will you move forward prior to an agreement or wait until you get enough before beginning construction?
Kuykendall: “We will begin construction after acquiring the necessary easements and approvals from regulators.”

Because that answer was obviously baloney, Dale asked a follow up:

So, to clarify customers that pay into Grain Belt Express through money or service, who, if anyone, have you entered into an agreement with? If you have no one paying into the line - a customer - you are saying you would build anyway? Or do you want to expand on this?
Kuykendall: ““Grain Belt Express will be bringing power to 350,000 electric consumers across Missouri through a signed transmission service agreement with the Missouri Joint Municipal Electric Utility Commission (MJMEUC) representing 39 Missouri municipal utilities. Grain Belt Express has seen strong interest in the market and expects to secure additional customer agreements prior to construction beginning.”

Oh, that's right... Grain Belt Express *DOES* need customers to pay for the project before it builds. Why? Because Invenergy is claiming that the project will cost $7B. They're going to need a construction loan for the project, and the lender is going to need a reasonable expectation of being repaid, such as the project having paying customers that would produce a revenue stream to make timely loan payments. Duh. How dumb does Invenergy think we are anyhow?

Grain Belt also admits that it will need additional customers, in addition to the MJMEUC customer. That's because the MJMEUC contract is for "up to 200 MW" of capacity. GBE is planning to make available 2500 MW of capacity in Missouri. MJMEUC is less than 10% of the capacity offered. In addition, MJMEUC got a sweet, sweet deal because they were used by Grain Belt to show the Missouri PSC that there was some "benefit" to Missouri. Grain Belt witnesses testified at PSC hearings that MJMEUC received a "loss leader" contract price that was actually less than it cost GBE to provide the service. Invenergy isn't going to be making any construction loan payments with its proceeds from MJMEUC.

So, where are the other customers? They do not exist!! Despite all the overly optimistic blather about the customers GBE "expects", the customers are just not there.

So you might wonder... what's the rush to get Tiger Connector approved? What's the rush to acquire land? What's the rush, Invenergy, when you don't have enough customers to make your project economic?

And, let's check out some of the other prevarications in Invenergy's answers.

What measures will the company actually take to minimize negative impacts for affected landowners?
Kuykendall: “Missouri stakeholders have urged Invenergy to develop solutions to deliver more power to Missouri from the Grain Belt Express project. The Tiger Connector is necessary to meet that request, and in doing so provide billions in energy savings to Missourians.

Wait a tick... who are these "stakeholders?" Do they have names? Do they even exist? I'm thinking they do not because who, other than a customer, would urge GBE to make more capacity available in Missouri? And we know GBE doesn't have any customers other than MJMEUC. If the "stakeholders" are real, Invenergy should name them. If not, they don't exist.

And then there's the matter of eminent domain:

What will the company do to avoid condemnation, which is likely the biggest issue?
Kuykendall: “This is always a last resort for us. We’ve already acquired 84 percent of the parcels needed along the Phase I portion of the Grain Belt Express HVDC route, with nearly all of them coming through voluntary easements.

Oh, look... "nearly", my favorite weasel word! "Voluntary" is an inappropriate description of acquiring easements through threat of condemnation. I'd even go so far as to say that none of the easements are voluntary since they weren't offered before Grain Belt Express land agents came calling. Kuykendall also forgets to mention that Invenergy has already filed a number of condemnation lawsuits that are currently working their way through the Missouri court system. Why must Invenergy condemn land NOW for a project that doesn't have enough customers to get built? Will Invenergy surrender these easements when it can't find enough customers? Grain Belt's current permit from the MO PSC requires that Grain Belt give back any easements it has acquired through condemnation if it doesn't use them within 5 years. Which brings us to the next bit of propaganda...

Can you confirm that Invenergy intends to honor the 7-year Sunset revision on easements as stated in the law?
Kuykendall: “The company is still reviewing that provision of (House Bill 2005) and expects this issue to be addressed in any regulatory filings before the Missouri Public Service Commission. As you know, HB2005 does not apply to Grain Belt Express and any commitment to comply with portions of the law would be voluntary in nature.”

That's right... Grain Belt only gets 5 years, not 7. But since the Missouri ag organizations generously gave 2 years away to Invenergy in HB 2005, perhaps Invenergy can add another two years? No wonder they're being cagey. But, never fear, dear landowner, Invenergy says:

We will engage further with the Missouri Farm Bureau, other ag groups, and the Missouri Public Service Commission to implement these commitments to balance energy affordability and reliability and landowner interests in Missouri.”

What landowner rights do you suppose they will give away on your behalf next? Only YOU can look out for YOU, not some special interest group that has other issues to pursue.

And let's end with Invenergy's complete and utter nonsense about burying transmission:

Will Invenergy move lines from the middle of fields? Bury lines?
Kuykendall: “We will propose a route that takes the input gathered from these public meetings into account. We understand the desire for some or all parts of the Tiger Connector line to be buried. Undergrounding the Tiger Connector would require burying two separate transmission systems to meet safety and reliability requirements. This makes undergrounding a non-starter.

“The Tiger Connector line will have one circuit for MISO and one circuit for AECI.
“Overhead line maintenance can be performed by shutting down one circuit while the other continues to deliver power.
“This is not possible underground because workers cannot work with a live circuit present, and federal reliability requirements prohibit a system design that would shut down power delivery to multiple markets at once. This would require two separate buried systems.
“Undergrounding would also have much greater impacts on ag operations, including:
Eight times as much land permanently taken out of production.
Over 80 times the excavation that can reduce yields from compaction and soil mixing.
Permanent “call before you dig” requirements for landowners in easement areas.
Ag impacts result from:
Excavating two buried cable trenches across the entire length of the line – with the trenches separated sixty feet from each other. Recent studies of other buried infrastructure projects have shown reduced yields for corn and beans between 15-25 percent due to compaction and the mixing of topsoil and subsoil caused by trenching.
Installation of permanent access bunkers which are like U-Haul trucks parked in the ground every 2,000 feet in pairs, one along each set of buried cables. Crops cannot be grown over these, and each set would be farmed around.
“In addition to the significant land impacts, this request could set a precedent for other future transmission lines in Missouri, representing billions of dollars in added costs for Missouri electric consumers over time.
“Stakeholders have cited the importance of balancing energy affordability and reliability while also serving landowner interests. Burying any part of Grain Belt Express would fail both of these goals.”
Kuykendall added these statistics to the response:
1.3 acres permanently out of production, vs. 0.16 acres
484,853 total cubic yards of soil excavation for undergrounding, vs. 5,759 cubic yards for monopole foundations

You need to bury two separate systems? Why? Are there two separate transmission lines? Workers can't be near a live circuit underground, but they can be near one above ground? If you can shut off the current to an aerial circuit, why can't you shut off current to a buried circuit? Point us to these "safety and reliability requirements" you quote. Or maybe you're simply making the whole thing up? I think Invenergy is trying much too hard to repel the idea of undergrounding the lines. None of this makes actual sense. It makes my logic bone ache.

Burial would have greater impacts on agriculture? Only if you buried the line on new rights of way across agricultural land, but that's not necessary at all. Buried transmission can be sited alongside existing road and rail rights of way, where they can bury the U-Haul truck vaults that allow faults to be repaired without digging up the entire line (something Invenergy recently claimed elsewhere). The beauty of buried electric cables is that they can go on existing linear easements. Nobody condemns a new right of way in order to bury a cable for some sort of infrastructure, they use the ones that already exist.

Oh, God forbid Invenergy set a precedent for building a transmission line that does not cause permanent impacts for farmers! What a horrid thing! Because it's really not that much more expensive when you consider the millions of dollars Grain Belt has spent over the past decade fighting landowner groups, buying influence, and pumping out the propaganda. Add to that the cost of 10 years of delay, and it probably costs the same as burying it on existing rights of way from the get-go.

And hey, look, there's those mysterious "stakeholders" again. Who ARE these people? And why should they speak for what landowners want? Only landowners should determine how the project affects them. It's their land, not mysterious stakeholder's. Mysterious stakeholder has not been out there alongside the landowner over the decades, pouring his mysterious blood, sweat, and tears into the land. Mysterious stakeholder needs to shut his pie hole... if he's anything more than a sock puppet being used by Invenergy.

I really can't wait for Alan Dale's next article!!! Please let him know how much you appreciate his reporting on Grain Belt Express!

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Well, Well, Look What Crawled Out of the Woodwork

8/23/2022

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A report in RTO Insider says, "Skelly's Grid United Eyes HVDC Intertie in West Texas."

That's right... after his spectacular failure and wasting of $200M on his "Clean Line" projects, Skelly has crawled back out from under the baseboard where he fled to lick his wounds and dream some new impossible dreams to waste more investor money on new transmission projects that will likely never happen. What kind of a fool gives this guy more money? No, don't answer that. I know which fools, but not why they don't simply invest the money in lottery tickets instead. Probably better returns.

Anyhow, our pal Skelly has assembled a new "team" that looks surprisingly like his old "team" and has finally filed an application for his first Grid United project. Well, it's just an application to interconnect to the Texas grid and find such an interconnection necessary in the public interest for now. Skelly may come back later and ask for an order to construct and operate a transmission project. Gosh, this all sounds so incredibly familiar. Didn't Skelly ask the Illinois Commerce Commission for some sort of necessity finding prior to filing an application for the Rock Island Clean Line? His full name must be Michael Bifurcation Skelly. It's like inching into a room where you're not wanted. Bit by bit, and hoping nobody notices you slinking inside.

Skelly claims in his application to the Texas PUC:

Grid United Texas was created as an electric corporation in 2021. Grid United Texas is
wholly owned by Grid United LLC (Grid United) with a mission to unite the U.S. electric grid by
building new long-distance, interregional transmission lines to ensure that Americans have access to low-cost power when and where it is needed.

We, as Americans, say "no thank you." Or maybe it's more like "no way, get outta town!"

So, where is Skelly brain fart 6.0 going to be located?

The Pecos West Intertie Project (Proposed Project) is a proposed 1,500 MW HVDC interconnection between ERCOT and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC). The Proposed Project is proposed with an HVDC converter station at the LCRA TSC Bakersfield Switching Station in Pecos County, Texas, and an HVDC converter station at an EPE Station in El Paso County, Texas. Grid United Texas has evaluated interconnection at EPE’s Caliente Station and Newman Station, but the EPE interconnection will be determined following further consultation with EPE and the U.S. Army regarding a potential crossing of Fort Bliss (for the Newman Station interconnection). An approximately 250 to 300 mile ±525 kilovolt (kV) overhead HVDC tie line (Tie Line) will connect the HVDC converter stations at each end of the Proposed Project.

Looks like Skelly has learned absolutely nothing at all from his first routing failure, and wants to add not crossing a military base to his resume.

Oh hey, would you look at that? Part of Skelly's old "team" ended up on the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Revenge is a sweet, sweet dessert, isn't it, Jimmy? I certainly hope Jimmy isn't going to recuse himself from this case. After all, I like a good laugh now and again.

But wait... there's more... Grid United is also in the "initial planning phase" of a completely different project, the North Plains Connector, that plans to rip through some of the most beautiful scenery in this country in Montana and North Dakota. I was just there. Is nothing sacred?

And, say, remember when Skelly recently bought a parcel of land in Tennessee located adjacent to an electric substation?

Yup. He's crawling among us again. Where's my flyswatter?

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Electric Hot Potato

8/2/2022

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The U.S. electric grid is divided up into different regions, and several regions are struggling to keep the lights on this summer due to lack of generation at peak demand times. There are issues in the Midwest, and Texas, and much of the west. Clean energy fanatics like to blame this on "climate change" and pretend that "extreme weather" is to blame. They keep advocating for more wind and solar generators and new transmission lines to connect them. They make all sorts of suggestions about how we can avoid overtaxing renewable energy generators that may fail to operate when energy is needed. The latest seems to be that air conditioning is overtaxing the system and we should learn to live without it, like our ancestors did. What's next? Heat? Should we all switch to fireplaces and wood stoves and remove all our indoor plumbing so it doesn't freeze in the winter? Worst of all, they call this "progress."

The wind and solar fantasy asserts that if we only triple the amount of electric transmission in this country, we'll have the capacity to ship every electron generated anywhere in the country to any other place that needs electricity. The idea is that we can "borrow" from our neighboring regions when our own is deficient.

But let's pull back the wrapper on that idea a bit, shall we? The PJM Interconnection region consists of Mid-Atlantic states and pushes west into parts of Illinois. It covers the Ohio Valley, where the bulk of the electricity to fuel the East coast has been produced for decades at "mine mouth" plants that burn coal and natural gas and then ship the electricity east on gigantic transmission lines. Because PJM is fossil fuel heavy (60% of the power in PJM is produced by coal and gas), it is a favorite place to "borrow" power when wind and solar is not producing enough in neighboring regions that have overbuilt wind and solar and closed their own coal and gas plants.

But now PJM is on the verge of its own crisis. Where will PJM "borrow" power from when the surrounding regions don't have enough to share, and in fact are trying to "borrow" from PJM? A group of power suppliers in PJM are speaking out about the upcoming crisis:

On the supply side in PJM, "we're seeing dramatic retirements" of coal-fired generation, with PJM retiring about 15 GW of coal in the next two years that it is not being replaced on a one-to-one basis, Thomas said.
The Midcontinent System Operator is experiencing a similar trend, with incremental generation resources being added that do not have the same reliability attributes as those being retired. "They are adding megawatts that are less valuable than the megawatts being retired, meaning they need to add significant multiples to replace what's being retired," he said.
In MISO, the accredited capacity being added goes down out to 2041, while the future load scenarios continue to go up.

The generator group calls this a "house of cards." I've been referring to it as a game of hot potato. Whatever its name, it means that we will run out of places to get power from very soon. Are you ready to do without?

"This is kind of a fascinating trend, and arguably not a sustainable trend, because what all these other regions are counting on is importing power from other areas of the country to make up the difference and that's a house of cards waiting to fall," Thomas said.
PJM is not one of the areas identified by the North American Electricity Reliability Corporation, an international regulatory authority, as having reliability concerns, but "they're coming in a big way," he said.
The PJM interconnection queue of resources planning to connect to the grid is 95%, if not more, wind and solar power resources, which is where the economic signals are right now.
"There is going to be very little to no new natural gas coming into the system and coal is going to continue to retire" with the nuclear power resources remaining because they are subsidized at the state and federal level, Thomas said.

So we're retiring the reliable fossil fuel resources we (and other regions) have depended on to keep the lights on, and replacing them with intermittent, weather-dependent renewables that are not reliable. And our government keeps propping up intermittent renewables with tax credits, loans and a plethora of expensive programs and regulations that make them a financial gold mine for companies that construct them.

One of the core tenets of the PJM capacity market is that in order to have capacity it must be deliverable. A megawatt of power on the system only has value if it can be delivered at peak demand periods, Thomas said.
PJM has been giving capacity accreditation to intermittent resources above their approved capacity injection rights levels, so these resources were selling capacity that was not deliverable, and that is a problem, he said.

The problematic aspect is consumers have been paying for capacity that has no value at peak, and suppliers "are getting boxed out of the market by these undeliverable megawatts," Thomas said.

Government spending is making our grid unreliable. Can we change course before the lights go out?

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Grain Belt Express: Secrets Revealed!

7/31/2022

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Grain Belt Express filed a new application for its project to cross Illinois at the Illinois Commerce Commission this week. In that haystack of thousands of pages of legal dreck and testimony, I found several needles. I'm going to guess that Invenergy didn't expect anyone to find the needles... but here they are!

In 2020, the Missouri Landowners Alliance filed a complaint at the PSC claiming that Invenergy had changed the design and engineering of its project as announced in a press release. The press release claimed Grain Belt Express would increase the capacity of its interconnection in Missouri to 2500 MW. During the evidentiary hearing, counsel asked Invenergy witness Kris Zadlo some questions about its interconnection requests in Missouri. Invenergy's counsel objected to these questions, but the judge initially overruled. The witness gave evasive non-answers to the questions, and his counsel continued to object to any probing into Grain Belt's interconnection in Missouri. Eventually the judge capitulated and shut down this line of questioning. The complaint was eventually dismissed based, in part, on Zadlo's testimony that the project design had not changed and that Invenergy was pursuing the project as permitted. The permitted project contemplated a connection with the MISO system in Missouri at a point in Ralls County. Turns out that was not true at all at the time Zadlo testified.

Invenergy recently re-announced its offering of 2500 MW in Missouri. Grain Belt's ICC application demonstrates that Zadlo was prevaricating. In testimony, Invenergy witness Carlos Rodriguez stated

One 1018 MW interconnection request (queue number GI-083) was submitted to AECI (Associated Electric) in June 2019, with a point of interconnection to the McCredie 345 kV substation.

and

Four interconnection requests were submitted to MISO in April 2019. The point of interconnection for all four interconnection requests is breaking Ameren’s McCredie – Montgomery 345 kV line, approximately 0.5 miles East of AECI’s McCredie 345 kV
substation. Two of the interconnection requests (total 1,500 MW) are being processed per MISO’s Merchant HVDC Transmission Connection Procedures (“MHCP,” Attachment
GGG) and the two remaining are being processed per MISO’s Generator Interconnection Procedures (“GIP,” Attachment X).

So Invenergy changed its proposed interconnection points and sizes in 2019, although Zadlo testified at the PSC in 2021 that nothing had changed and Invenergy was still pursuing to interconnect 500MW in Ralls County.

So, what is Invenergy planning now?

The converter in Missouri is proposed to be interconnected with the MISO system along the Ameren 345 kV AC transmission line connecting the McCredie substation and the Montgomery substation. The proposed connection will be made via a single 345 kV circuit from the converter station to a nearby tap point along the Ameren 345 kV transmission line. The proposed converter will also interconnect with the AECI system at the McCredie 345 kV substation. The proposed connection will be made via a single 345 kV circuit from the converter station to AECI’s McCredie 345 kV substation.

It looks like MLA was on to something before the PSC shut it down during the evidentiary hearing. More importantly, MLA was RIGHT all along. Invenergy had begun making plans to change its interconnection size and location. I highly doubt the amazing Zaldo had no knowledge of this.

Also revealed in the new application is more information regarding Grain Belt's interconnections with SPP, MISO and PJM. Bottom line is that GBE has NO approved interconnections. The SPP one needs to be restudied because of the increased capacity, the MISO ones won't be finalized until sometime next year, and the PJM ones won't be finalized until at least 2025-2026.

Another tidbit Missourians may find interesting... GBE says it will use monopoles in Illinois unless the landowner agrees to lattice, or the lattice structures are needed to support a turn in the line or a long span, such as over a body of water. Missourians were also promised monopoles, but once approved and purchased by Invenergy, GBE announced that all structures will be lattice.

Invenergy also revealed that it has a slightly different plan for use of the line. The public service commissions of Kansas, Missouri and Indiana permitted the project on the condition that no costs would be involuntarily allocated to the state's consumers. Word has it that Invenergy has been pursuing MISO to include GBE in its regional plan and that GBE claimed it was doing that so that it did not have to pay for system upgrades it caused and that they would be involuntarily allocated to all ratepayers in the MISO region. The plan to pay for the project that was permitted relied on federal Negotiated Rate Authority, where GBE negotiated voluntary contracts with customers to pay to use the line. In that scenario, GBE would sell its service to its voluntary customers. However, in its ICC application, GBE now claims it may sell or lease the project to others, instead of, or in addition to, selling service itself.

Subject to additional oversight and approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), Grain Belt Express may sell and/or lease an undivided interest in the project to potential buyers and/or lessees, and Grain Belt Express and those buyers/lessees may seek to provide transmission service over the line to eligible customers as defined by FERC on a non-discriminatory basis under a FERC-approved open access transmission tariff (“OATT”). Any co-owner or lessee of Grain Belt
Express that seeks to provide transmission service will be required to operate pursuant to an OATT on file with FERC that will meet the requirements of the Federal Power Act and FERC’s regulations. Grain Belt Express may also sell a cotenancy interest or lease a long-term leasehold interest in the transmission line, in which case it is not providing transmission service to such buyer/lessee because the buyer/lessee has control over that undivided interest.

Invenergy may just build the project and "flip" it to others, who may or may not be a public utility providing public use of the line for public benefit. Those entities would have to come up with their own rate scheme at FERC and find their own customers, and Invenergy would be off the hook to negotiate rates under its Negotiated Rate Authority.

Grain Belt Express has been granted negotiated rate authority from FERC, which
may be updated. Under this authority, Grain Belt Express is required to broadly solicit interest in taking service on the Project from potential customers and accordingly, will offer the opportunity to contract for firm and non-firm transmission service to eligible customers, and to provide transmission service over its available transmission capacity to all eligible customers on a not unduly discriminatory basis. Grain Belt Express will provide eligible customers with the opportunity to contract for transmission service where available transmission capacity exists on the line and cannot and will not unduly discriminate against any transmission customer in favor of another transmission customer. All eligible customers will have equal opportunity to obtain firm and non-firm transmission service through these means. If Grain Belt Express sells or leases one or more undivided interests to potential coowners/lessees, Grain Belt Express may be required to seek FERC approval of such a sale or lease if Grain Belt Express is a public utility subject to FERC jurisdiction at that time pursuant to Section 203 of the Federal Power Act. Furthermore, if any co-owner/lessee seeks to provide transmission service to eligible customers, such co-owner/lessee will be required to comply with FERC’s statutory and regulatory open access requirements and similarly be obligated to provide available
transmission service on its portion of the line on a not unduly discriminatory basis.

Oh, it may be updated? Or maybe not, and maybe Invenergy plans to chuck its Negotiated Rate Authority altogether. I wonder... is Invenergy's NRA even valid any longer, since they never notified FERC that the project was sold and a new entity is in charge? Why hasn't Invenergy broadly solicited interest in the project since it bought it?

Grain Belt Express expects that its co-owners, lessees and transmission customers will consist principally of (i) entities with wind and solar energy ownership interests located in southwestern Kansas and (ii) buyers of electricity—particularly buyers seeking to purchase electricity generated from renewable resources—located in MISO and PJM who take delivery at the respective delivery points. These buyers of electricity are expected to be principally participants in the wholesale markets (utilities, alternative retail electric suppliers (“ARES”), other competitive retail suppliers and brokers and marketers) but could include retail purchasers. The ultimate beneficiaries of the Project will be retail consumers of electricity in Illinois and other parts of PJM, MISO and adjacent markets who purchase and consume electricity from renewable resources that the Project delivers to the MISO and PJM delivery points.

It expects? So GBE doesn't have these customers now? I see. Still no customers. No customers, no revenue, no project. After all these years, Grain Belt Express still does not have enough customers to make construction of the line financially feasible. So how does it plan to generate revenue?

At this time, all of the costs associated with the development, construction and operation of the Project are expected to be recovered through a combination of sales/leases, as well
as FERC jurisdictional services including transmission service agreements with customers and other rates and charges pursuant to FERC approved tariffs and rate schedules. Grain Belt Express does not intend to seek to recover all of the costs of the Project by regional cost allocation to retail
customer load using the transmission cost allocation processes of PJM or MISO.”

So it plans to recover some of the costs by regional cost allocation to involuntary customers? Is this because there are no voluntary customers? Without customers, there can be no financing of the project.

The projected cost to construct the total Project and place it into operation is approximately $4.95 billion (not including network upgrades). Grain Belt Express has a viable plan for raising the capital necessary to finance the cost of constructing the Project on a project financing basis. Specifically, after advancing development and permitting activities to a status at which developers of wind and solar generation facilities and other potential customers of the transmission line are willing to enter into commercial agreements for an undivided interest (purchase or lease) or long-term contracts for transmission capacity on the Project, Grain Belt Express will enter into such contracts with interested subscribers that satisfy necessary
creditworthiness requirements. Grain Belt Express will then raise debt capital using the
aforementioned contracts as security for the debt. Grain Belt Express may also raise additional equity capital.

So, like I said... no customers, no financing, no project. Is this really a "viable" plan? Invenergy admits it cannot finance the project until it has customers. It currently does not have enough to pull this off. Coulda. Woulda. Shoulda.

It looks like GBE is just as far away from constructing this project as it has ever been. But yet it continues to tweak the project and condemn private property for a project that still has no customers or signed interconnection agreements. How many more "changes" and additions to this project will the public have to suffer before Invenergy comes up with a workable plan?

When will the PSC stop approving speculative transmission projects and visiting financial pain and uncertainty on the citizens of Missouri?

It's about time that Invenergy takes off its sheep costumer and reveals the wolf within, don't you think?

Still thousands of pages of haystack to paw through... what needle is going to fall out next?

2 Comments

Hiding Information in Plain Sight

7/25/2022

1 Comment

I've watched a lot of transmission projects come and go, but never have I seen a project that has been so hidden from public notice. Think about it: If the public never finds out about it, then they won't form opposition, hire lawyers, and intervene at the PSC. They also won't generate any negative media or political unpopularity. A transmission project hidden from public notice is traveling a stressful road richly studded with hidden landmines. In my opinion, it's a stupid idea headed for failure.

Grain Belt Express "Tiger Connector" transmission project was barely mentioned in Invenergy's press releases earlier this month. It was hidden in plain sight on the second page of the release, a place reporters rarely go, especially if the "important" talking points are bulleted for them on the first page. Local press didn't even mention it. No story, no public notice, no participation, no opposition.

When the project was announced, the few maps that circulated were vague dotted lines on a zoomed out map that only included major roadways. Transmission developers ALWAYS have detailed aerial photography maps available at Open House dog and pony shows, and increasingly these developers share their maps online well in advance of the "meetings". Seeing a detailed map of their property with a new transmission line drawn in is often the trigger point for landowners. But if Invenergy keeps these maps hidden until just two days before the Open House, then less landowners will have an opportunity to see them. Less notification, less participation at the Open House, less opposition.

And speaking of those Open House "meetings" they are always, and I do mean ALWAYS, the subject of a well-circulated press release for local media, along with paid advertising in print, radio, TV and internet. The idea of holding these meetings is to gather public input. But if the public doesn't know about these meetings because the transmission developer has not adequately advertised them with plenty of notice, then the public probably won't attend. No attendance, no maps, no participation, no opposition.

Invenergy mailed a letter to what it called "impacted landowners" notifying them of the Open House meetings just two weeks in advance. Actual delivery of the letters was well within that two-week window. And who is checking to make sure Invenergy's list of "impacted landowners" is accurate? Even the best transmission developers miss large numbers of "impacted landowners" at this stage, which is why they also buy advertisements and press reporters for news stories. They may actually want the public to find out and attend the "meetings." But if a landowner doesn't get a letter, or has a scheduling conflict, then they miss out. No notification, no attendance, no participation, no opposition.

Invenergy has performed a parody of "public notice" for its Tiger Connector transmission project by not using industry best practices for public notice and hiding "information" in plain sight in places landowners would never look.

The Public Service Commission should be very concerned about these shady practices. Your elected officials should also be concerned about it. Please let them know how disappointed you are in "public notice" shortcuts for this project.

You can submit an online comment to the PSC here. The case number is EA-2023-0017.

Invenergy has created a "virtual public meeting" on its website. According to earlier statements, it will only be available for a very short time. You can visit it here.

Be sure to check out the aerial photographic maps all the way at the bottom of the page. If you don't see them, or can't make them function (which has already been a complaint) you may need to change or update your internet browser. Don't give up! But, then again, if half the internet visitors can't access the maps because they are not designed to operate in a wide-variety of internet browsers, then less people see them (we're really developing a theme here!)

The rest of the page is what I call propaganda. Let's review.

"New power delivery" In fact, Invenergy claims 2 nuclear power plants worth. Reality: Grain Belt is a MERCHANT transmission project. That means that it will only deliver power to an entity that has signed a contract to pay to use the power line. Grain Belt cannot and will not just "deliver power" in general. "Existing customers" have contracted for just 10% of Grain Belt's capacity, although 20% of its new capacity has been offered for years with no takers. That's right, nobody has purchased 250 MW of service in Missouri that GBE has been offering for years. All the propaganda and marketing spiel in the world cannot make electric distributors in Missouri buy something they don't need. Missourians know the story about painting Tom Sawyer's fence very well. If nobody wants it now, it's probably not marketable.

"New local jobs, spending and tax revenue!" But selling 2 nuclear power plants worth of extra energy into Callaway County directly competes with the reliable sources of energy Callaway already relies on, such as Ameren's Callaway Energy Center. The nuclear power plant currently provides thousands of good paying jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue and local community charities. Which would provide more? I think it is the Callaway Energy Center, hands down. Absolutely no contest. A bird in hand is worth more than the promise of two in the bush.

Invenergy's "experience." They say, "Invenergy knowns (sic) how to build the right way and has relationships with over 12,000 landowners, more than 80 percent of whom are farmers and ranchers." But reality is that nearly 100% of these "farmers and ranchers" signed voluntary agreements with the company because they were promised royalties or other payments that "share in the wealth" of Invenergy's land use. Transmission lines make a one-time "market value" payment for the perpetual use of your land. No matter how much money Invenergy makes from the transmission line, your compensation will not increase. Invenergy has recently begun condemning the land of folks who won't sign voluntarily.

The cheaper Grain Belt Express is to build, the bigger profit for Invenergy. GBE is approved to sell its service at market rates. The price GBE charges is set by market forces. It is not reliant on its cost to build and operate. While regulators can limit a jurisdictional utility's profit, the sky's the limit with Grain Belt Express! Nobody can hold their profit in check. And the cheaper the project is to build and operate, the more profit is in it for Invenergy! Perhaps that why, after promising single structure "monopoles" to landowners for a decade, Invenergy recently changed the structures after it purchased the bankrupt project from Clean Line Energy Partners. Invenergy says all transmission structures will now be cheaper 4-legged lattice construction. Promising monopoles seems to be a Grain Belt Express bait and switch.

All this same information will be decorating Grain Belt's venue tomorrow and Wednesday on strategically placed poster board easels manned by perky but clueless company representatives. But we all know that the only thing people come to see are the maps.

Make your plan to attend:

Audrain County
Tuesday, July 26
Knights of Columbus
9584 State Hwy 15, Mexico, MO
65265
Meeting 1
12:00 p.m. to 2:00p.m.
OR
Meeting 2
5:00p.m. to 7:00p.m.

Callaway County
Wednesday, July 27
John C Harris Community Center
350 Sycamore St, Fulton, MO
65251
Meeting 1
12:00 p.m. to 2:00p.m.
OR
Meeting 2
5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Don't let Invenergy get away with preventing you from getting information about a project that could have devastating effects on your home, your business and your community!

1 Comment

Magic Math Is For Fools

7/21/2022

0 Comments

In case you missed it last week, Invenergy posted an "Analysis Summary: Impact of Grain Belt Express on Kansas and Missouri Ratepayers." It goes something like this:

Low-cost modeling process market consultants assuming estimated wind generation projected average reduce expected potential forward-looking wholesale market impacts revenue requirement controllability assessment aggregates combined impacts lower inclusion utility investment the collective partial revenue requirement average approximately production capacity factor flat production profile evening peak electric demand SPP MISO regions wholesale electric costs region spanning prices price spread opportunity arbitrage nodes average annual basis off-peak price differences translate Kansas and Missouri. Billions.

That was my take away. It really is that obtuse and meaningless. I don't think it's meant to be understood. I think maybe it's meant to be held by well-fed, middle-aged "economic development" big fish in small ponds while they slap each other on the back and bloviate knowingly about "savings" from Grain Belt Express. You know these guys as well as I do... they've got a finger in everyone's pie and they trade in "Do You Know Who I AM?" Jack of all trades, master of none, small government sycophant who likes to pretend he knows everything about energy and his opinion is gold.

Except... if you quizzed these guys they'd quickly find something more important to do than talk to you, or simply get angry at you for implying they are a know-nothing waste of flesh. They're probably on their way to find out what Invenergy can do for them. Quid pro quo, you know.

First of all... GBE is just a transmission line. It doesn't sell power. Power purchased separately. How in the world did this variable get handled in the opaque report? Notice how the variables are not identified, much less the equation shared? My 8th grade Algebra teacher would give Invenergy an "F" and send it to the principal's office for not showing its work.

Fugheddaboutit. Here's all you need to know about electricity prices in Kansas and Missouri.

See that? The price of electricity in Kansas is 10.38 cents per kWh. The price of electricity in Missouri is 9.64 cents per kWh. So if we export electricity from Kansas and make it available for use in Missouri, it will RAISE electric prices in Missouri, not lower them. In addition, Missouri ratepayers would need to add the $7B, that's BILLION, dollar price tag of Grain Belt Express to their equation, since Invenergy claims it necessary in its report.

There, wasn't that simpler and a whole lot more logical?

0 Comments

Dropping Off Some Reality

7/17/2022

0 Comments

Some of Invenergy's fake news this past week mentioned that Grain Belt Express will "drop off" power in Missouri. This is an inapt phrase used by people who don't understand transmission. It annoys the spit out of me.

When you think "drop off" it sort of sounds like Missouri is getting a gift of electricity. But it's actually more like getting a delivery of something you ordered and paid for, like a box of Amazon junk. Did anyone in Missouri order electricity from Invenergy? If the answer is "no", then you're not getting anything. Only someone who has ordered and paid for the merchandise (electricity) is going to have it "dropped off" in Missouri. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Our electric transmission system is sort of like a network of water pipes. That network is fully pressurized with water, and only when a paying customer turns on the taps do they receive anything. Electricity is like water in a pipe network. The lines are fully pressurized with electricity. Only when you've signed a contract to pay for the electricity and for the delivery do you get to turn on a light switch and receive electricity from Grain Belt Express.

The problem is that GBE has only one known customer, a common buyer for municipal electric distributors known as MJMEUC. MJMEUC signed a contract to purchase "up to" 250 MW of transmission service on GBE. Separately, it signed a contract with a wind generator in Kansas to buy electricity to be delivered on GBE. Only those customers who take service from MJMEUC will receive anything from GBE. The rest of Missouri gets nothing.

The only thing being "dropped off" in Missouri is propaganda.

And think about this... MJMEUC's contract buys electricity shipped to Missouri on GBE, but it also buys service for MJMEUC to ship electricity from Missouri to PJM in equal amount. Now go back to that analogy about the water pipe network... if MJMEUC buys electricity and sells electricity in equal amount, is there really any electricity being "dropped off" in Missouri at all? Electrons are all the same, no matter where or how they are generated. The electrons from Kansas are exactly the same as the ones generated in Missouri. MJMEUC actually gets nothing but the bill for pretending it's buying and selling electricity. If the price MJMEUC buys electricity for in Kansas is less than the price it sells that electricity for in PJM, then MJMEUC gets paid the difference, minus line loss that happens from being transmitted and converted from AC/DC/AC. Is it worth it? Would PJM want to buy power from Missouri when it can generate the same power at home?

But what if the second "phase" of GBE from Missouri to PJM is never built and MJMEUC can't sell electricity, what does MJMEUC get then? It gets more electricity than it needs to serve load and the generators in Missouri could be shut down.

It sort of sounds like the biggest scam ever, doesn't it?

I sort of wish these folks would educate themselves about the physics of electricity and the realities of the electric power market. Then they'd simply drop Grain Belt Express off the nearest cliff.

Look out below!!!

0 Comments

Missouri PSC Hits The Brakes On Invenergy's Rush To Site and Permit 40 Miles of New Transmission

7/14/2022

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Invenergy seems to have overestimated its power over Missouri in the wake of the complete capitulation of the legislature earlier this year. It seems like Invenergy thought it could do anything it liked to Missouri and nobody would say "boo."

What other explanation could there be for GBE's filing of a "Notice of Amendment" to amend its current GBE permit to:

Increase the capacity of the transmission line from 4,000 MW to 5,000 MW.
Increase the available capacity for delivery to Missouri from 500 MW to 2500 MW.
Relocation of the line’s mid-point converter station from Ralls County to Monroe County.
The addition of an approximately 40-mile transmission delivery line through parts of Monroe, Audrain and Callaway Counties.

Just minor technical changes? No these are material, major changes that landowner groups tried to warn the PSC were coming in a complaint case filed in 2020, which the Commission dismissed. In the meantime, GBE has been filing condemnation lawsuits to take property from private landowners to use for its for-profit project. All the while, it knew it was going to change the project and be subject to new approvals. What happens if the PSC does not approve all these changes? Will GBE have to give back the land it has condemned for its speculative project that has now been re-routed?

In addition, GBE contemplates taking 40 miles of new rights of way from previously unaffected landowners. And it plans to do that in a big ol' hurry, using its previously granted eminent domain authority to take land that was never contemplated to be taken when the PSC awarded it. The PSC must decide whether Invenergy's sudden "need" for this new transmission is in the public interest.

Since GBE's capacity increase announcement is nothing more than a marketing exercise to try to attract customers who have heretofore been uninterested in buying capacity, I can't find any public interest here. It's all private interest for Invenergy to use the people of Missouri as mere pawns in its attempt to make money building transmission that nobody wants.

Missouri law requires that the filing of utility applications be subject to a 60-day notice requirement. This means that the utility must file a notice that it intends to file at least 60 days prior to filing. Invenergy thinks it should receive a waiver of this requirement because,

Good cause exists for the waiver, if necessary, as notice was provided as soon as practical after finalization and the public announcement of the proposed modifications.

So Invenergy's media scheme is reason to ignore the law? And, after harassing Missouri for more than 10 years and not exercising its Missouri permit for a number of years, suddenly there's an emergency to get started as soon as possible without legally required public notice? This is a garbage excuse. The PSC did not grant any waiver, but told GBE to ask again in the correct docket.

The PSC slapped down Invenergy's silly Amendment yesterday and told them they needed to file a complete application to amend the permit in a new docket. This isn't going to be quick or easy for Invenergy, as it shouldn't. These are real people, real lives, real businesses that Invenergy is asking to toss under the bus because its plans for its SPECULATIVE transmission project have changed. That's nobody's fault but Invenergy's... and the MO PSC that thought it was a good idea to grant a permit and eminent domain authority to a merchant transmission project without a confirmed interconnection point, confirmed customers, confirmed financing, and a confirmed route. This new "Tiger Connection" did not need to happen if the PSC had required Grain Belt Express to come with a certain plan, not a speculative wish list.

Hopefully the PSC won't be fooled again. Who's to say that this "amendment" will be the last one? Until Invenergy has signed interconnection agreements and signed customers, it's all subject to "amendment." Landowners should not have to bear the brunt of corporate uncertainty. That's not in the public interest.

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Forward>>

How You Will Pay Transmission Bribes To Your Local Government

Grain Belt Express Seeks Government Subsidies

Invenergy Trips Over Its Grain Belt Lies

Well, Well, Look What Crawled Out of the Woodwork

Electric Hot Potato

Grain Belt Express: Secrets Revealed!

Hiding Information in Plain Sight

Magic Math Is For Fools

Dropping Off Some Reality

Missouri PSC Hits The Brakes On Invenergy's Rush To Site and Permit 40 Miles of New Transmission

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