The Chattanooga Times Free Press has accused the Tennessee Valley Authority of cancelling Clean Line's interconnection request because it hates clean energy.
But after running out the clock with years of study, TVA President Bill Johnson said the utility would back out of the plan — leaving the Clean Line project twisting in the wind.
This editor has confused TVA's interconnection study process with TVA's memorandum of understanding to separately study whether TVA should purchase transmission capacity to serve its customers. These are two separate and distinct processes. In their haste to demonize the TVA, the editors have allowed their lack of knowledge to turn them into liars.
Late last month, TVA decided not to buy the wind energy it had been window shopping for nearly six years.
Did this supposed "decision" ever happen? An official decision would have been made public, and reported when it happened. Except that never happened. Instead, it is only after the Plains & Eastern project collapsed that the less than true accusations against the TVA started. More likely the TVA simply continued its failure to make a decision, and it was Clean Line that decided to "kill" its own project by selling a portion of it to NextEra and withdrawing its interconnection position. Then Clean Line and the armchair engineers at the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy start lobbing political revenge bombs at the TVA.
The much touted "Memorandum of Understanding" between Clean Line and the TVA only required the TVA to consider purchasing transmission capacity and wind from Oklahoma to serve its load. There was no obligation for TVA to purchase anything.
This article in RTO Insider gives the MOU authority it never had.
The much touted "Memorandum of Understanding" between Clean Line and the TVA only required the TVA to consider purchasing transmission capacity and wind from Oklahoma to serve its load. There was no obligation for TVA to purchase anything.
This article in RTO Insider gives the MOU authority it never had.
The deal was sealed after it became apparent to Clean Line that TVA had little appetite to complete a six-year-old memorandum of understanding to purchase the project’s wind power.
The MOU never required a purchase. It obligated TVA to think about purchasing, which is something they could have done without the MOU. The MOU was legally and commercially useless, but it sounded good for Clean Line to tell the media it had a MOU with the TVA. And the media bought it, and now they can't seem to let this fake news die. Clean Line sold a portion of its project because the company couldn't get it built. It was only after the sale that the TVA got trotted to slaughter.
The MOU was never about the separate interconnection process. In order to connect a new power source (because a large transmission line is a power source) to an existing transmission system, the system operator must study how the injection of power will affect the stability of the existing system. This is a fluid process, as the electric grid is constantly changing. Any additions or upgrades necessary to keep the system stable are the financial responsibility of the entity who has requested interconnection. A transmission operator can't just up and decide a project can't connect because the operator doesn't want to buy power to serve its customers. That's a mingling of responsibilities that isn't supposed to happen. Transmission is non-discriminatory open access.
Clean Line's removal from the TVA interconnection queue was voluntarily elected by Clean Line, whether they actively withdrew or whether they simply stopped paying for the interconnection process. When the interconnection process ends, the queue position is surrendered.
What other lies has the media made up to soften Clean Line's failure?
The MOU was never about the separate interconnection process. In order to connect a new power source (because a large transmission line is a power source) to an existing transmission system, the system operator must study how the injection of power will affect the stability of the existing system. This is a fluid process, as the electric grid is constantly changing. Any additions or upgrades necessary to keep the system stable are the financial responsibility of the entity who has requested interconnection. A transmission operator can't just up and decide a project can't connect because the operator doesn't want to buy power to serve its customers. That's a mingling of responsibilities that isn't supposed to happen. Transmission is non-discriminatory open access.
Clean Line's removal from the TVA interconnection queue was voluntarily elected by Clean Line, whether they actively withdrew or whether they simply stopped paying for the interconnection process. When the interconnection process ends, the queue position is surrendered.
What other lies has the media made up to soften Clean Line's failure?
In the meantime, Clean Line founder and president Mike Skelly told RTO Insider, the company will focus on its four other long-haul HVDC projects.
“We’re adapting to the headwinds,” Skelly said. “You have to adapt.”
Adapt? If Clean Line had adapted to reality, it probably could have saved its investors $100M or more. Any sane utility without a method to recover its sunk costs would have quit many tens of millions ago. Also, a sane utility with 5 new and different transmission projects probably would have concentrated on just one project to see if the idea was viable before trying to get 5 of them off the ground at once. The "headwinds" smacked Skelly upside the head. Really hard. I guess he wasn't using his head. *cymbal crash*
What is Skelly focusing on? The Rock Island Clean Line is dead. Plain & Eastern is dead. The Grain Belt Express has been denied and is facing years of appeals in a legal quagmire from which it cannot escape. I have no idea what's going on with the two western projects, but its probably more of the same. There's nothing to focus on here. Michael Skelly's transmission projects are not viable.
But RTO Insider isn't the only one being strung along by Clean Line.
What is Skelly focusing on? The Rock Island Clean Line is dead. Plain & Eastern is dead. The Grain Belt Express has been denied and is facing years of appeals in a legal quagmire from which it cannot escape. I have no idea what's going on with the two western projects, but its probably more of the same. There's nothing to focus on here. Michael Skelly's transmission projects are not viable.
But RTO Insider isn't the only one being strung along by Clean Line.
In response to several queries from Talk Business & Politics, Clean Line on Wednesday (Jan. 3) issued a statement saying a recent decision by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to drop its six-year-old interconnection agreement with the Texas partnership has put the project on hiatus.
So Clean Line really IS issuing the well-padded "statements" that are misinforming the media?
“The need for low-cost renewable energy in Arkansas remains and the benefits the Plains & Eastern Clean Line will deliver to the state have not changed. Clean Line Energy is retaining all permits and acquired rights-of-way in Arkansas while we continue to evaluate energy markets and will respond accordingly,” said Clean Line Founder & President Michael Skelly. “Unfortunately, TVA’s reluctance to enter into an agreement with Clean Line … at this time has delayed our ability to deliver low-cost, renewable energy to the Southeast U.S. and jobs and investment to Arkansas.”
What the HELL, Michael Skelly? How do you expect the assets you still "own" to deliver anything, ever? You no longer have a generation source at the end of your right of way assets. You sold the portion of the line that was supposed to connect with new wind generation to another company you no longer control. NextEra will do whatever it wants with that portion of your project. You voluntarily withdrew from the TVA interconnection queue, so you have no end point to deliver energy either. Clean Line has an empty extension cord without any plugs on either end. It's useless and could never be built. It is now truly a "bridge to nowhere" that cannot connect with any existing or new roadway.
This "bridge to nowhere" is not the same project Clean Line got approved by the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA), or the U.S. DOE. It's no longer approved. And I doubt Skelly has the financial means to continue to make scheduled payments to landowners for optioned rights of way. Option? Yes. Landowners have reported that Clean Line's "purchase" of right of way in Arkansas is technically only an option to purchase because Clean Line only made down payments, with additional payments to continue the option to purchase due at a later date. Skelly doesn't own anything yet, he hasn't completed paying for it.
This "bridge to nowhere" is not the same project Clean Line got approved by the Tennessee Regulatory Authority (TRA), or the U.S. DOE. It's no longer approved. And I doubt Skelly has the financial means to continue to make scheduled payments to landowners for optioned rights of way. Option? Yes. Landowners have reported that Clean Line's "purchase" of right of way in Arkansas is technically only an option to purchase because Clean Line only made down payments, with additional payments to continue the option to purchase due at a later date. Skelly doesn't own anything yet, he hasn't completed paying for it.
No terms of the deal were disclosed, but regulatory and court filings show that Clean Line appraised the value of its Oklahoma assets north of $1 billion.
Oh hell no. What's a piece of a broken dream worth? If NextEra paid anything close to a billion dollars for the OK portion of the project, I'll tap-dance on their front steps while singing Don't Be Stupid. I'm going to guess it was less than $25M, much, much less.
But it was exactly two years ago Clean Line cleared its biggest regulatory hurdle in Tennessee when the TVA board unanimously voted to approve the Texas partnerships’ application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to operate as a wholesale transmission-only public utility in Tennessee. At the time, TVA said there was a need to connect the supply of thousands of megawatts of new wind energy in the Oklahoma Panhandle with the increasing demand of utilities in the Mid-South and Southeast.
TRA, not TVA. Tennessee Regulatory Authority is the state entity who issues a CPCN. The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federal power marketer who has nothing to do with regulatory authority in Tennessee. There is a HUGE difference! And speaking of huge differences, the project TRA approved no longer exists. I'm betting if challenged, the TRA won't support the CPCN any longer.
Clean Line has often touted TVA’s “letter of interest” stating that the project presented a valuable option for affordable energy for the Tennessee utility conglomerate, whose largest customer is the city of Memphis.
Right. See above. Clean Line spun its MOU to pretend it obligated TVA to purchase capacity. Obviously it did not.
So, let's review:
So, let's review:
- Clean Line may no longer connect with the TVA transmission system.
- Clean Line no longer connects with any known generation source or resource area.
- Clean Line has no customers.
- Because of these factors, Clean Line's project no longer resembles the one reviewed by regulatory and "participatory" agencies.
The Plains & Eastern Clean Line is dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Michael Skelly needs to give his ego a rest and just admit he's done with transmission. Continuing to pretend Clean Line's transmission idea is viable doesn't even make sense.
Dead.
Dead.
Michael Skelly needs to give his ego a rest and just admit he's done with transmission. Continuing to pretend Clean Line's transmission idea is viable doesn't even make sense.
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