Category Archives: Need

Notice of Public Info & ER Meetings

It’s official — the PUC and Dept. of Commerce have issued Notice of the meetings in February:

Notice_ScopingMeetings_20141-95492-01

Scoping Comments are due by 4:30 p.m. on March 14, 2014.  Send to bill.storm@state.mn.us

And here’s the schedule of the meetings — I think I’m going to opt out of Thief River Falls and Bemidji given the corridor options now:

PublicMeetingSched

EnvRev

But something on the maps bears a second look — the western route headed south from the border crossing down around Red Lake seems to have disappeared.  Is that correct?  I’m waiting to hear… and the verdict is, straight from the horse’s mouth:

This is the map we recently sent out to LGUs 90 days in advance of filing the route permit as required by Minn. Stat. 216E.03, subd. 3a as well as landowners.  Those are the routes we are going to put in the route permit application.  On the CoN scoping meetings we started with a larger study area and Notice Plan area so our thought was we still need to have coverage in that area and MPUC Staff agreed, though I’m not sure how many folks will attend in Bemidji or Thief River Falls. 

RouteCorridors

 

 

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Filed under Meetings, Need

Scheduling for GNTL Certificate of Need proceeding

We’re inching forward in the scheduling for the Not-so-Great Northern Transmission line proceeding at OAH.  Commerce and Minnesota Power have sent in proposals, Commerce for the public hearings across the state, and MP for the whole shebang!

The Prehearing Conference is on Friday, THIS Friday, the 17th at 10 a.m. in the PUC’s Small Hearing Room.

Here are the proposals, starting with the TENTATIVE public hearing schedule:

PublicHearingSched

Here’s MP’s proposed environmental review schedule (and it’s way too ambitious, Commerce can’t get anything done that fast, we’re always waiting for environmental review, and the public hearings shouldn’t be held before that’s done!):

MPsEnvRevSched

And MP’s Hearing schedule (HA!):

MPsHearingSched

Less than a year for a 200+ mile part of a US/Canadian 500 kV line?  You be dreamin’.

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Filed under Hearings, Meetings, Need, PUC Filings

Need for the Great Northern Transmission Line?

It’s all about need.  They’re starting out with a Certificate of Need proceeding, where the applicant has to demonstrate to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission that the project is needed.

To see what’s happened so far on this docket, and to subscribe so you receive notice of filings and can keep up to date, go to the PUC’s Search Docket page, and search for this docket, 12-1163.

What reasons does Minnesota Power give as the need for this line, what type of need, how much?  Here’s what their Notice of Intent to File for a Presidential Permit says:

So of the ~1200 MW capacity, 250 MW is for a Power Purchase Agreement and 750 MW is for export.  1/4 is for an identified claimed need, and 3/4 is for marketing bulk power… to where?  Minnesota Power doesn’t say…

Here’s their Letter of Intent:

Notice of Intent – Presidential Permit

So what’s the plan here?  This is the map of options studied at MISO:

As you can see, the idea is to bring the power down from Manitoba Hydro, across northern Minnesota and Wisconsin, over the up and down toward Detroit.  That map is taken from the MISO Northern Area Study, as reported to the Committee on February 12, 2013:

20130212 Northern Area Study TRG Presentation

And starting from that map of ideas, the result is that it just doesn’t make economic sense:

So what are they going to do?  Will they really go forward with only a part of it?  Well, the Northern Area Study Report is pretty definite:

And another choice snippet:

Throughout the Northern Area Study, a total of thirty-eight different mitigation plans were proposed and evaluated. The Northern Area Study used an iterative process to refine projects. Generally, production cost saving potential for the Northern Area Study footprint was low as a result of the inclusion of the Multi-Value Project (MVP) portfolio approved in MTEP11, decreased forecasted demand growth rates, and low natural gas prices.

Here’s the entire report:

MISO Northern Area Study Final Report

So why is Minnesota Power going forward?  For the 75% market opportunity? That’s the driver for this part of the larger project to Michigan:

And here’s what Manitoba Hydro wants:

And as above, it doesn’t make economic sense.  So then what?  Can they build a line that they can’t justify economically???  Nope.  They’ve got to demonstrate they NEED it!

Stay tuned… I’ve got to run to the Ambulance Garage in Baudette!

 

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Filed under Maps, MISO, Need