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A Transmission Horror Story

6/30/2020

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Not exactly the right time of year, but gather 'round, boys and girls.  This is the tale of the State Transmission Infrastructure Authorities Monster.

Who?  If you're not a resident of one of seven unfortunate western states where the monster lives or has lived, this may be no more than a cautionary tale for you.  However, if you live in one of the seven states that comprise the monster's stalking grounds, the horror is real.

Between 2006 and 2008, the monster was born as an idea to encourage the building of electric transmission within a state in order to increase export of energy produced in the state.  It was just a pumped up economic development authority for energy.  The idea was to give these state transmission authorities the ability to issue revenue bonds, allow corporations to avoid tax liability, and most importantly to utilize eminent domain to take private property from citizens and give it to corporations in the name of "economic development."  These authorities like to pretend they are "catalysts" or "incubators" to bringing incredible riches to their state.  In reality, they are steamrollers... flattening a path through the state in order to create profits for out-of-state corporate interests.

Despite a whole bunch of initial hype, this monster turned out to be kinda lazy.  It hasn't accomplished much in more than a decade.  In fact, the monster has been killed in several states (Kansas and South Dakota) after the people saw how lazy and ineffective their monster really was.  Other states quickly defunded their monsters in an attempt to starve them out of existence.  For the most part, that worked.  The vast majority of the surviving monsters are weak do-nothings that barely survive on scraps tossed to them by out-of-state energy companies still toying with the idea of needing a good monster in the future to ram though a highly-profitable transmission idea.

And then there's New Mexico's monster.  The Renewable Energy Transmission Authority, or RETA, is fat and happy on the cash out-of-state energy companies are feeding it.  And, in exchange for a 3 squares a day, RETA is shambling around the countryside, gobbling up private property under threat of eminent domain, and stockpiling it for future ownership of the out-of-state energy companies that feed RETA.

RETA was established by the New Mexico legislature in 2007 to plan, develop, finance and acquire energy transmission and storage projects for the purposes of economic development.  New Mexico figured it has excellent wind and solar energy resources, but not enough transmission to export it out of state.  New Mexico is currently planning to permit just one out-of-state developer to build many more megawatts of wind energy than New Mexicans need.
The 3,000 MW potential for Pattern Energy would produce enough electricity to power 1,095,000 homes in New Mexico, according to Public Service Company of New Mexico. New Mexico has 948,000 housing units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
This energy isn't for New Mexicans.  It's not about making energy "cleaner" in New Mexico.  It's about harvesting cheap energy in New Mexico and making a huge profit selling it to other states (like California) that will pay a premium for imported "clean" energy instead of junking up their own state with the necessary turbines, solar panels, and transmission lines to make it themselves.

At what point will New Mexico wake up and realize it's nothing but a cheap date for out-of-state energy companies?  The real money isn't staying in New Mexico, it's being shipped out of state right along with the energy.  Only a few New Mexicans will see income from being California's energy doormat.  The majority will find their properties irreparably damaged and turned into industrial energy plants while they feast on a few crumbs and "fair market value" attempts to make them whole in the wake of eminent domain takings.  You'd think New Mexico would be at least as smart as some eastern states who are using economic development to produce energy for their own use.  Produce energy in state, use energy in state, and all the economic development dollars stay in state for the benefit of its people.  History should have already taught the lesson of what eventually happens to states that throw wide the doors for exploitation by out-of-state energy companies.  The out-of-state companies get the gold, and the people of the state get the shaft.

Let's take a look at RETA's most recent financial audit, which is the best look you're going to get at RETA's finances.

Where did RETA get its money in 2019? 
The Authority did not receive a State appropriation for the 2019 fiscal year. However, SunZia and Pattern Energy provided developer contributions totaling $550,000 to facilitate ongoing operations.
...........

In 2019, the significant revenue sources were developer contributions from Pattern Energy LLC, of $525,000 and Sun Zia Transmission, LLC, of $25,000.

All of RETA's money came from private developers in 2019.  ALL OF IT.  How is it that a quasi-state agency, using the power of the state, can be 100% funded by private corporations who can profit from the agency's actions?  Isn't that a huge conflict of interest?  If RETA doesn't do what its funders want, perhaps it won't receive additional funding.  This is nothing more than a for-profit corporation masquerading as a "state agency" in order to take from the citizens of the state.

And to make matters worse, Pattern has signed an agreement with RETA to "lease" the property RETA obtains using the eminent domain power of the state.  Pattern also will make RETA the "owner" of its Western Spirit transmission project.  RETA doesn't pay state taxes... it is the state.  See where this is going?  RETA, on behalf of the State of New Mexico, is so eager to have Pattern "developing the economy" of New Mexico that it doesn't have to pay taxes.  Pattern can take private property for its own for-profit use and doesn't have to pay taxes.  How does New Mexico benefit from this again?  The state is granting the right to take private property to an out-of-state company for its own profit.  Doesn't exactly scream "move here for prosperity," does it?  Economic development?  Or corporate lackey?

RETA likes to pretend it was created mainly to issue revenue bonds.
The Authority’s Purpose and Highlights The Authority was created in 2007 based on the Laws of 2007, Chapter 62. The purpose of the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority Act (the “Act”) is to create a governmental instrumentality to finance or plan electricity transmission and storage facilities within the State of New Mexico. The financing or acquisition of an eligible project would be accomplished through the issuance of renewable energy transmission revenue bonds or other debt instruments.

However, in the 13 years of its existence, it looks like RETA has not issued any bonds.
The Act created the Renewable Energy Transmission Bonding Fund, which shall consist of revenues received by the Authority from operating or leasing eligible facilities, fees and service charges collected and, if the Authority has provided financing or eligible facilities, money from payments of principal and interest on loans. Money in the Renewable Energy Transmission Bonding Fund is pledged for the payment of principal and interest on all bonds issued pursuant to the Act. Bonds issued pursuant to the Act shall be payable solely from the Renewable Energy Transmission Bonding Fund or, with the approval of the bondholders, such other special funds as may be provided by law. These bonds do not create an obligation or indebtedness of the state within the meaning of any constitutional provision. No bond has been issued thus this fund has no activity.
RETA is not financing transmission.  It's also not "planning" it.  RETA is simply responding to the out-of-state energy corporations who pay its bills.  Its main purpose seems to be to acquire private property using eminent domain in order to create transmission rights-of-way that out-of-state energy corporations use to make a huge profit.  RETA is nothing more than a corporate sugar daddy for Clean Line, Pattern, and Sun Zia.  If you're a corporation that thinks it can make a lot of money exporting renewable energy from New Mexico, RETA is your sugar daddy monster!

Is it democracy when state government is funded by "donations" from corporations with a pecuniary interest in the actions of the state government?  This isn't even hard to figure out... it's a straight up conflict of interest!  And when you toss the taking of private property through eminent domain into the mix, it's a horror show!

Haven't we all been down the eminent domain for economic development road before?  What happened, New Mexico?  Were you out sick that day?

RETA's window dressing says it's all about protecting landowners, claiming on its website "We're here to help."

But when you get inside, it's a house of horrors.  RETA is all about helping developers, not landowners.  RETA needs a cash infusion from the legislature.  Think about that... it needs state funding.  Where does state funding come from?  It comes from taxpayers.  The state government has no source of revenue except taxpayers.  RETA wants the citizens of New Mexico to pay its bills while it takes their private property and gives it to an out-of-state for-profit corporation.

Any touted cash payments to landowners are from wind farms, not the transmission lines RETA "develops."  Not all landowners benefit equally from the construction of new transmission lines.  Some landowners get royalty payments for hosting energy generators, but others get one time "make whole" payments for exporting the electricity across their property.  The royalties wouldn't happen without the landowners exporting the energy, but yet these landowners are expected to participate basically for free.  No wonder RETA needs to use eminent domain to set up its scheme whereby the few profit at the expense of the many.

When is the legislature of New Mexico going to wake up to the stink coming from its own monster?  When is New Mexico going to stop acting like a cheap date for out-of-state energy corporations?

More about New Mexico coming soon:  How Pattern changed Clean Line's rate scheme for Western Spirit in order to build a private-use generation tie line....
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Out-of-State Corporate Money "Wins" in Missouri

6/24/2020

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Just when you think you've seen everything 2020 has to offer...

An ousted "journalist" pens an article about "winners" of the 2020 Missouri Legislative Session.  It's all about corporate lobbyists "winning" in their interference between the Missouri people and their elected representatives.  Corporate money may be "free speech," but it cannot yet cast a vote.  Seems like elected officials swayed by the smell of corporate money need to take a lesson at the next election.
The team lobbying for Grain Belt Express –  Led by Nexus Nexus with Rodney Boyd, Kate Casas, and Brian Grace, along with Aaron Baker and Hannah Beers with Clout, the group put together a team early on in session that looked like there was little chance to succeed. It was rocky at the end, but they fought off what is almost certain to be the largest challenge to the project.
And who paid these "winners" for their time and effort?  Invenergy, a corporation based in Chicago.  So, what an out-of-state corporation wants to happen in Missouri is more important than what the people of Missouri want to have happen?  Missouri got bought by a Chicago corporation.  The legislators who did their bidding need to be replaced by legislators who want to work for the people they represent (Missourians!  Not Chicago corporations!) 

There was "little chance to succeed," but after a nice, long Coronacation, things mysteriously changed.  I wonder how much that cost?  I guess we'll find out when the campaign finance reports get published. 

So, if Invenergy was the "winner," who's the loser?  The people of Missouri.

The largest challenge to the project?  Scottie, you ain't seen nothing yet!

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Not In Microsoft Bill's Yard

6/17/2020

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NIMBY!

Super-rich Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates is funding a new initiative to brain wash the American people into believing they need a "national" transmission system.

Don't fall for it!

Of course, none of these new transmission lines would be in Bill's yard, they would be in yours!  He thinks you need a nationwide, high-voltage direct current (HVDC) network optimized for the nation's best wind and solar resources.
Thanks to generous support from Breakthrough Energy, an organization founded by Bill Gates that is working to expand clean energy investment and innovation, the Macro Grid Initiative will undertake wide-ranging educational efforts in support of transmission expansion to connect areas with low-cost renewable resources to centers of high electric demand. This can be accomplished by connecting grid regions like MISO, PJM and SPP.
Take a look at this propaganda group's maps of "America’s centers of high renewable resources".  What's missing?  Offshore wind.  Offshore wind doesn't exist in this group's scenario.  Why not?  Because offshore wind doesn't require a "national transmission system."  In fact, it requires very little new terrestrial transmission at all.  Now guess who's paying for this little brainwashing expedition, and who might benefit if they can succeed in making America dumber, and completely upend the way we plan and build transmission and generation in this country.

And how do they plan to do that?
The Macro Grid Initiative seeks to build public and policymaker support for a new policy and regulatory environment that recognizes the substantial nationwide benefits of new regional and interregional transmission. Priority areas include:

An expanded nationwide and eastern grid with a focus on the regions of MISO, PJM and SPP.

The next round of regional and interregional transmission planning.

A fully planned and integrated nationwide transmission system.

A new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission transmission planning rule.

Achieving the Macro Grid vision will require new policies at the federal, regional and state levels that recognize the substantial nationwide benefits of an interregionally connected transmission network.

New policies at the state and federal level?  Like usurping state jurisdiction to site and permit new transmission and planning the grid on a national level so that uncooperative states are run over in the process and affected landowners are left with nowhere to turn?  How else would they:
...reduce barriers to development...

...overcome the barriers to siting long-line transmission facilities...

...upgrade our nation's aging and creaky transmission network...

...connect all this clean energy to our homes...

...expand regional and interregional transmission...

... build a strong national power grid...

Barriers?  They mean you.  They mean hundreds of thousands of landowners whose private property will be condemned using eminent domain in order to place an unwanted transmission line on private property and generate a huge profit to the owner of the new transmission line.  Affected landowners will get nothing, not even one electron from the transmission line.  HVDC is an unbroken line from beginning to end and requires outrageously expensive substations to convert it from DC to AC in order to connect with our existing transmission system.  It's an electric highway on your property that you cannot use.  Landowner payments are merely compensation for the market value of the land taken.  They are an attempt to make landowners whole, not to realize any sort of profit.

Creaking?  I've honestly never heard a transmission line creak.  It whines, it hums, it crackles.  It doesn't creak.  Replacing existing lines to upgrade conductors and equipment happens when needed because our system must remain reliable at all times.  This is so much crap. Bill's NIMBY initiative is about building NEW lines, not upgrading existing ones.

Instead of connecting centralized electric generation to our homes, people are increasingly installing their own electric generation on their homes.  Corporations are installing on-site renewables on their stores, offices, and factories.  We don't need to "connect" anything, just generate our own clean energy!

And this one.  It deserves to be quoted in its entirety.
Michael Skelly, Founder, Clean Line Energy Partners; Senior Advisor, Lazard:
"Building out our grid brings jobs, efficient markets, and cheaper and cleaner power. No individual or company can do this alone. But together with a broad public and policy maker consensus I have no doubt it can and will be done. I'm excited to see ACORE and ACEG's Macro Grid Initiative take on this important effort."

YOU FAILED, Michael Skelly!  You proposed building the same kind of "national" grid a decade ago, and you failed miserably after wasting $200M of investor's money.  (Bill Gates beware!)  A national grid isn't feasible.  It's not what the people want.

Why not?  Because they want to build renewable generation for clean energy in their own homes, neighborhoods, states and regions.  They don't want to create a hole in their own economy where they stop creating local energy and economic development and begin to send their energy dollars to other regions.  For example, let's look at New Jersey.

Yesterday, NJ Governor Phil Murphy announced plans to build a new port in Salem County to support the development of offshore wind farms off the Jersey Shore.  Officials say the New Jersey Wind Port will create 1,500 permanent jobs, generate $500 million in annual economic activity, and help the state reach its goal of gradually relying more on so-called clean energy.

Does Governor Murphy want to pay for an outrageously expensive "national grid" so he can import energy from other regions and cancel his port project?  My suspicions point to "no."

Likewise other eastern states, who plan to jumpstart their own economies by creating a robust offshore wind industry.

Nobody wants an exorbitantly expensive "national grid."  And if you need an example of how such an initiative will fail, maybe you can ask Michael Skelly?

Take your propaganda and shove it, ACORE.  Quit pretending you represent consumer interests, ACEG.  Everyone knows where you get your funding, and it's not from consumers.

And while we're at it, next time your crappy Microsoft PC gets infested with viruses and quits working, toss it in the dumpster and buy a MAC.  It might cost more upfront, but you won't have to buy a new computer every couple years.  Unlike his proposed "national grid" your boycott of Microsoft products will end up in Microsoft Bill's Yard.
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Invenergy Decides Not to Compete With Itself in Missouri

6/14/2020

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Invenergy has pulled the plug on a wind farm in southwest Missouri that it has been planning for the past three years.
“Invenergy has decided to change course in Barry County,” said Meredith Jeffrey, manager of renewable development for Invenergy, in a statement to The Times.
That's it.  Oh, there's also some speculation about interference with air traffic and wildlife, but when has Invenergy ever cancelled its money-making plans because they caused community impacts?

Now that Invenergy is going hammer and tongs on its Grain Belt Express transmission line to ship wind energy from "better places farther west with fewer people that are better suited", it has bagged its plan to build wind in Missouri.  After all, why compete with itself and let Missourians partake of wind energy produced in their own state?  Isn't it better for Missouri communities to pay Invenergy a bunch of money to create wind energy elsewhere and import it to Missouri?  That idea has worked so well for goods manufactured in China, hasn't it?  Things are so cheap!  But a lot of local jobs dried up and the imports can't be depended upon.

Sorry, City of Monett, you're going to have to buy service on the Grain Belt Express if you want wind energy.  You can't have locally produced power.

As an electric service provider, the City of Monett is interested in renewable energy and expanding our resource mix that already includes wind, gas and coal resources. The city may have an interest in procuring a local source of wind energy, but we have to balance that with concerns for the operation and future expansion of our airport and electric generator’s potential impact on our airport tenants and users.
Well, isn't that hypocritical... the city and county officials want wind energy, but they don't exactly want it in their own backyard.
“The thing about this area is we’ve got the wind, but the demographics and geography just are not conducive for wind towers,” Schad said. “We’ve got too many small concentrations of homes and two airports. It’s not so good when you look at the details.”
Well, guess what?  None of the communities on the GBE route are conducive for transmission lines.  They've got too many concentrations of homes and airports.  But nobody seems to care about that when eminent domain has been granted.  And speaking of eminent domain, here's a whopper....
As power producers and not as a utility, the company’s activities did not fall under oversight by the Missouri Public Service Commission.
When Invenergy is a "power producer" it's not a utility.  But when it wants to build transmission to make its power production available at a different location,  it is magically a utility with eminent domain authority.

I'm not fooled.  A HVDC transmission line with no available connections except at an end point converter station acts more like a generator than a transmission line.  It injects large amounts of power to the grid at a fixed location.  It's not an open-access highway that will provide fixed-rate service for all customers who request it.  It will only provide service for customers who offer to pay the most.  That's not a public utility.

It remains to be seen if Invenergy will pack up its bindle and leave Missouri altogether when it finds out that Missourians want nothing to do with its GBE project either.  Landowners have been resisting this company for more than a decade.  They're not likely to cave in now.
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Never Let A Good Crisis Go To Waste

6/13/2020

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Industrial "renewable" energy builders, transmission companies, and their big, green NGO sycophants aren't about to let the Corona Crisis go to waste.  They've come up with a new "plan" to "rewire the U.S. for economic recovery."  That's right, we need to build new energy generation and transmission in order to recover from the Corona Crisis.  Only putting money in their pockets will get us on the road to recovery!

Smells like greed to me.

$1.7 trillion in "investment" could  reduce U.S. GHG by  27%.  Just 27%.  And guess who gets to pay for it all?  You do!

Seems like these greedmeisters are having a hard time building this stuff because the people not only don't want to pay for it, they don't want it on or near their property, either.  Therefore, in order to force this amazing Corona Crisis recovery, they've come up with a "plan" to change federal laws to force it on us.  Never let a good crisis go to waste!
Today’s grid operator and state regulatory approaches to transmission planning and generation interconnection are not up to the task of delivering a low-carbon grid at speed and scale.
Therefore, let's do away with state siting and permitting authority and allow FERC to do it for everyone.  After all, look how swell that's worked out for gas pipelines...
While 544 GW of renewable generation lies in wait to interconnect to high-voltage transmission systems – nearly half of the capacity needed to meet a 90 percent clean energy standard – these projects face unreasonably high barriers due to conventional interconnection rules. Rather than investing in transmission planning that would more efficiently serve society’s economic and policy goals, today’s rules typically require every new generation resource to separately pay grid upgrade costs to interconnect their power plant the system, when there would be far greater societal benefit to view transmission planning and upgrades with a more holistic regional perspective. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should exercise its authority and expand its capacity to require regional transmission expansion and simplified interconnection rules that support the realities of society’s policy goals and a 90 percent by 2035 clean energy standard.
What's wrong with generation owners paying their cost to connect their for-profit enterprises to the existing electric highway system?  It's not like everyone pays for a driveway to some isolated commercial farm operation in order to give the owner a free way to get his products to market.  Renewable energy is no different... it should pay its own way to market.  That's why these rules exist in the first place.  If you site generation near transmission, your costs may be less, but you'd need to pay for any upgrades to the system caused by your commercial generation enterprise.  If you want to make money selling electric generation, you need to pay your own way to get it there.  But these folks want to build new, highly profitable generation way out in the middle of nowhere, and that's pretty expensive.  It makes the cost of their generation more expensive than others, and it cuts into their profits.  Instead, they want YOU to pay for their interconnection so they can make more money on the generation they build.
Transmission networks can be planned in advance to accommodate a sensible mix of very low-cost renewable resources, creating net benefits for customers, and Congress should reform FERC’s electric transmission authority to support the changing electricity system in a cost-effective manner. To begin, cost-allocation should be driven by analysis of the benefits and balanced by a consideration of the negative factors beyond direct cost (e.g., land-use impact, landscape degradation, habitat disruption). Congress could give FERC a clearer mandate to enforce and expand Order 1000 (FERC’s regional transmission planning order), by requiring timely plans, accounting for public policy in planning, and allocating regional costs to beneficiaries where regions fall short.
This is a whole bunch of regal words for giving FERC transmission siting and permitting authority and taking it away from states.  And that talk of benefits?  What benefits? 
Benefits should include quantifiable environmental, resilience, and public policy benefits, in addition to direct economic benefits. The basic idea is to codify the lax suggestions of FERC Order 1000. The Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) Multi-Value Projects methodology is a model to consider building upon.
No, it's not.  MISO's method tosses a bunch of junk in the "benefits" mix in order to pretend that "environmental benefits" save people money.  They don't.  They cost people money because they require the building of a bunch of unneeded, costly infrastructure that people pay for.  These "benefits" are not quantifiable.  They're not real.  They force everyone in the region to pay for the "environmental" laws of individual states.  The benefits are not distributed equally, but the costs sure are.

Their idea is to build a whole bunch of new transmission at your expense so that industrial renewable companies can build new generators in places where it's not currently economic to build.
...adopting a more comprehensive, proactive regional planning approach in the rest of the country could reduce interconnection queue waiting times and improve the risk for developers...
There ya go... reduce risk (and cost) for renewable generation developers by shifting risk and cost to captive electric ratepayers.
Congress could also push FERC to act on cost-allocation for new multi-state transmission lines. Though these lines do not feature prominently in the 2035 Report, their benefits are clear from other modeling exercises. For example, FERC should encourage high voltage inter-regional transmission to access least-cost (and clean) resources, by requiring regional Order 1000 Planning Authorities to develop compatible models (incorporating state energy resource plans) and pursue interregional transmission where benefits exceed costs. Alternatively, Congress could vest DOE with authority to plan large interregional lines, reducing complexity of coordinating planning between regions. A more holistic cost benefit analysis of this nature can also help address the most common reason many important transmission lines have failed: disagreements between states over how to fairly allocate costs. For multistate lines, FERC could require states denying a regionally beneficial line to demonstrate certain criteria are met to justify denial, similar to the rate design structure used in the Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act.
In other words, let's force states to use imported energy on new transmission lines and make it impossible for them to deny new projects.  Why is that?  Because states are developing local renewables that keep energy dollars working in their own state and create local economic development.  Should renewable generation and transmission developers be able to force a state to buy their product using the force of the federal government?

These shysters also want Congress to create a federal clean energy standard.  Currently, states set their own clean energy policy, and it works just fine.  It just doesn't allow the greedy developers to force states to buy their products.

So, with all that in mind, here's how these guys want to reform energy policy:
U.S. Congress Affirm FERC’s authority for transmission cost allocation and planning for public policy impacts to the grid, including regions outside of ISOs/RTOs. Give particular attention to the federal clean energy standard, or in its absence state and utility clean electricity goals. Make clear the intention to reduce interconnection queue times and require beneficiary customers to pay their fair share.

U.S. Congress
Provide states with matching funds to pay for interstate transmission lines with demonstrable reliability, cost, and renewable integration benefits. Consider vesting DOE with authority to plan for and site interregional transmission lines to streamline development of the nation’s most crucial and beneficial long-distance transmission projects.

FERC
Exercise authority to require regional transmission expansion and simplified interconnection rules that support the realities of society’s policy goals and a 90% by 2035 clean energy standard.

FERC
Require regional Planning Authorities to develop compatible models (incorporating state energy resource plans) and pursue transmission where benefits exceed costs. Require states denying a regionally beneficial line to demonstrate certain criteria are met to justify denial.

FERC
Require regional transmission planning bodies created under FERC Order 1000 to propose to FERC multi-value transmission projects, accounting for state and federal clean energy policies, with Federal authority to promulgate a cost allocation methodology where regions fail to act.

They also want to "extend federal clean energy investment and production tax credits and conversion to more liquid incentives, and extend these incentives to battery storage."  In other words, forget the tax credits, these fellas now want cold, hard cash for generating energy that nobody wants.
Wait... I thought this was about recovering from the Corona Crisis?  This isn't about Corona at all.  It's a renewable energy and transmission lobbyist's wish list to make a whole bunch of money.  Never let a good crisis go to waste!

Be careful in the voting booth this November if you don't want electricity to become a luxury that you can no longer afford.
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What's the Rush?

6/11/2020

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So, Invenergy is contacting all landowners in Missouri to negotiate easement agreements for its Grain Belt Express transmission line.  What's the rush to acquire land rights, Invenergy?
MUST GET LAND RIGHTS IN MISSOURI!
Don't you think you should have an approved route through Illinois before acquiring any land along the route?  I mean, what if Illinois denies GBE's application for a CPCN, or the courts vacate it again?  GBE's nifty new website says it is "currently evaluating its options for regulatory approval in Illinois."  It's said that for months.  Invenergy used to say it needed to finalize its purchase of the failed merchant transmission project from Clean Line Energy Partners before it moved forward in Illinois.  However, that happened back in January.  It's the middle of June.  How much evaluation is needed?  Without an approved route through Illinois how would Invenergy even be sure that its Missouri route would connect?  Or that it's not buying land for a transmission project that cannot get to its end point in Indiana?
MUST GET LAND RIGHTS IN MISSOURI!
Invenergy needs the assent of the County Commission of each Missouri county it crosses.  That hasn't happened yet.  In fact, I can find no evidence that they're even trying.  What if a county does not assent and a re-route needs to happen?
MUST GET LAND RIGHTS IN MISSOURI!
Invenergy needs to have its interconnection studies completed and sign interconnection agreements with regional grid operators in MISO and PJM.  What's going on with those?

In PJM, GBE's original interconnection queue position (X3-028) for 3500 MW of power has been withdrawn.  So, what may have replaced it?  It looks like PJM has a couple of new HVDC merchant transmission requests in its queue, but studies are no where near final.

A recent position in Illinois seems to go to the GBE sweet spot:
Picture
But, wait.  There's one slightly older that goes to essentially the same place in Indiana:
Picture
Two HVDC merchant transmission connections at the same place?  Does anyone know of any other merchant transmission project that wants to inject that much energy at the same place GBE has been targeting?  Or is Invenergy hedging its bets?  Both queue positions are now active to inject 1,000 MW.  Isn't that curious?  Shouldn't a company want to know it could connect, and know how much that connection was going to cost before acquiring land?
MUST GET LAND RIGHTS IN MISSOURI!
And what's going on in MISO, where GBE lost its queue position a while back when MISO re-configured its queue?  Looks like there's been a trio of recent HVDC queue positions in Ralls and Randolph counties.
Picture
J1488 and J1490 connect at a point in Randolph Co.  J1489 connects to a point in Ralls Co., but it has been withdrawn.  Here's the two that are now active.

Picture
Little bit of hedging going on in MISO as well?  Might as well, there have been no studies completed here, either.

So, let's add that up, shall we?  1,000 MW in PJM and 1,000 MW in MISO.  That equals 2,000 MW.  I thought GBE was going to have a capacity of 4,000 MW (500 for MISO and 3,500 for PJM)?

I'm not sure where GBE's queue positions are in either region, or how much they may ultimately connect.  But they need to acquire easements in Missouri?
MUST GET LAND RIGHTS IN MISSOURI!
I'm totally confused about Invenergy's urgency to acquire land rights in Missouri.  They don't have interconnection agreements, and they don't have county assents, and they don't have a permit in Illinois (and haven't applied for one).   I suppose if Invenergy wants to risk spending money acquiring land in Missouri when it doesn't have some pretty important parts of its project in place, it can certainly do that.  But, it makes no sense to me.  It didn't make any sense to Clean Line either, because they stopped trying to acquire land in any state eons ago.  Spending hundreds of millions on land acquisition for a project that might end up abandoned because it can't get through Illinois was even too stupid for Michael Skelly to do.  Yay, you, Invenergy!

But, hey, guess what?  Our federal government has extended the deadline AGAIN for the Production Tax Credit for wind farms started in 2016 and 2017.  That's right, these special projects now get FIVE years to complete the project, instead of the original four.  A project started in 2016 must be finished by the end of 2021, and a project started in 2017 must be finished by the end of 2022.  Rush, rush, rush!
MUST GET LAND RIGHTS IN MISSOURI!
And, hey, doesn't Invenergy still have an unfinished wind farm in the OK panhandle that it started in 2016 or 2017?  It was going to sell the finished 2,000 MW wind farm to American Electric Power as part of that company's "Wind Catcher" project.  Except Wind Catcher was rejected by state regulators and AEP moved on.  I wonder if Invenergy is ever going to finish that transmission-starved wind farm?  If it does, it can now collect something like $1.9B in production tax credits from the federal government.  But only if it finishes the project in the next couple of years.  Invenergy better get cracking on that one!  That's a lot of our tax dollars that could accomplish so much more in Invenergy's pockets, don't ya know?  Hurry, hurry, hurry!

Meanwhile, back in Missouri....
MUST GET LAND RIGHTS IN MISSOURI!
It's summer time and farmers are really busy.  They're probably outdoors a lot.  Working, ya know?  They've got priorities growing food for all of us.  Thank a farmer today!

And, one last thing...
Picture
0 Comments

GBE's Monopoles Bite The Dust

6/2/2020

2 Comments

 
Invenergy says it is sending out this letter to its landowner victims.  I'm guessing it's supposed to endear them to you?  Instead, I think it demonstrates how little Invenergy knows about issues that matter to landowners.  I wonder what kind of an ignoramus wrote that thing... and designed the new "landowners" page on their website?  Sort of looks like someone who has never done this sort of thing before and doesn't want to learn.  It's like some socially inept twit going door to door trying to sell you rubber baby buggy bumpers.

First off, Invenergy wants you to know that it bought the rotten GBE hot potato from Clean Line Energy Partners.  Well, good for you!  W.C. Fields would be proud!  Does anyone really care to find out about Invenergy, or want to read more about Invenergy tooting its own horn about how great it is?  Probably not.  Landowners most likely don't care about the pedigree of an out-of-state company who wants to take their land using eminent domain.  It's about the eminent domain, not how great Invenergy thinks it is.  Nobody is likely to be impressed.  I do like how Invenergy tries to toss Clean Line under the bus though, gushing about how it has no affiliation with Clean Line, as if all the problems with the project were the fault of Clean Line?  How badly do you have to behave to have people consider you worse than Clean Line Energy Partners?  If you thought Clean Line was bad, maybe you should hold onto you hat!  It looks like it's fixing to get much worse.  Silly Michael Skelly may look like a hero when this faceless company is done with you.

Invenergy offers this reassuring nugget:
Please note that Grain Belt is seeking an easement – which is typical in linear infrastructure like electric lines and pipelines – and that you will retain full ownership of the land in the easement area.
Hey, great!  You get to continue to own a strip of land that you've lost all control of.  The only thing the owner gets is liability and tax burden... and of course a perpetual tenant they can't evict.  Was this supposed to make the landowners feel good?  It actually adds insult to injury.  I'm thinking nobody wants to be Invenergy's landlord in perpetuity.  Invenergy wants to take use of your land, but not the responsibility of ownership.

GBE/Contract Land Staff say they will be phoning you in the future to negotiate over land you don't want to sell.  How many people answer the phone when their caller ID tells them it's some random cell phone caller from another area code?  My new phone has a great feature button named "call block."  If I don't like the looks of a caller, I simply press that button and they're gone for good.  And even if I do mistakenly pick up the phone, there's no guarantee that I will be able to hear the caller clearly, phone service out in the boonies being what it is and all.  So, watch your phones, folks!  You'll soon have a new friend calling!

And then there's the blabber about how much Invenergy is going to help your community.... while taking from you personally.  Why, you "could" have expanded broadband!  Sure, you "could."

And speaking of could...  GBE has been promising landowners for the past 10 years that the transmission tower structures "could" be monopoles.  But, hey, guess what?
Picture
 The structures will be lattice steel designs.  All of them.  Not a monopole to be had.  Spare no expense for your comfort!  Lattice structures are the cheapest ones to build.   You didn't really believe all that Who Shot John about the monopoles, did you?  Most landowners did not, so it's not really a disappointment.  Landowners expected every promise made by Grain Belt Express to be broken.  It's just one more. 

I do feel bad for the Missouri PSC and the media though... they bought that 9 acres of land disturbed thing hook, line and sinker. 

40x40=1,600 sq. ft. per tower.    If for 200+ miles in Missouri need at least  4 towers  per mile than 800 towers x 1,600 sq. ft. = 1,280,000 sq. ft divided by 43,560 sq. ft. per acre = 29.38 acres.

Is the PSC going to issue a revised press release on this?  How about some breaking news stories?  That number was always a fiction... as if only the base of the towers is disturbed for a transmission right of way stretching more than 725 miles across four states?*

Be sure not to miss the "example" easement map on the website.  Because you mere farmers probably don't know how to look at a plat of your land without coaching from some land sharks from Texas and their know-it-all bosses in Chicago.  This "example" shows a transmission right of way crossing the shortest side of a rectangular parcel in parallel to the parcel's border.  Gosh, I sure hope Invenergy's straight line from Kansas to Indiana won't cross any parcels diagonally through the middle.  Because that would make the example the exception, not the rule.  Talk about using fiction to paint yourself in the best light possible...  This is a ridiculous addition to the website.  Whoever thought this up is a dolt.  Especially because the "example" parcel shows some drainage being crossed.  Hint:  Don't use those kind of aerial photos... pretend the farmland drains by hidden magic!

Don't fear though, landowners, Invenergy will "minimize" its interference with your drain tile and repair any damage it does to an even better condition!  Make sure any easement agreement you see guarantees that Invenergy will improve your drain tile.  I'll believe it when I see it!

And don't fear having permanent roads laid down on your land.  That only happens when there is no existing access to the right of way via public roads.  It will be extremely RARE!  Because every good farm field has public roads running through it already.

So, what's in it for you?  Significant annual revenue for your county!  You sacrifice your land and everyone in your county benefits from it.  Oh, Invenergy, you sweet talker!

And how might you get paid?  You'll get an amazing 20% of the value of your easement when you give it up.  You can get the rest "prior to construction" (isn't the signing date prior to construction?) or you can be really silly and elect to get a fixed rate payment annually for the life of the easement.  I wonder if you have to play a one-armed bandit to make this choice?

And if you have any questions not covered in Invenergy's generic letter or ridiculous website, who you gonna call?  No, not Ghostbusters, although I would like to see a few land agents and well-fed corporate executives sucked up in the Ghost Trap.  You're supposed to call Invenergy's land agent for advice.  Worst advice, ever.  Ask a lawyer... one not being paid by Invenergy.  Invenergy land agents are representing Invenergy's interests here.  They're not representing yours.

Remember, according to GBE's Code of Conduct, Invenergy must obtain your unequivocal permission before entering your land for any reason.
*As if anyone believes this lie anymore.  Get ready, folks, it's the next one to go.
2 Comments

    About the Author

    Keryn Newman blogs here at StopPATH WV about energy issues, transmission policy, misguided regulation, our greedy energy companies and their corporate spin.
    In 2008, AEP & Allegheny Energy's PATH joint venture used their transmission line routing etch-a-sketch to draw a 765kV line across the street from her house. Oooops! And the rest is history.

    About
    StopPATH Blog

    StopPATH Blog began as a forum for information and opinion about the PATH transmission project.  The PATH project was abandoned in 2012, however, this blog was not.

    StopPATH Blog continues to bring you energy policy news and opinion from a consumer's point of view.  If it's sometimes snarky and oftentimes irreverent, just remember that the truth isn't pretty.  People come here because they want the truth, instead of the usual dreadful lies this industry continues to tell itself.  If you keep reading, I'll keep writing.


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