Legalectric

Monday the 14th was the day that Comments were due to the Dept. of Energy regarding the Scope of the Environmental Impact Statement that is to be done in conjunction with the state’s EIS.

Here’s where the “preferred site” is, from a STrib article:

Here’s the notice with more details on Mesaba than we’ve ever seen before.

My Comments: Download file

Here are the Sierra Club Comments on the DOE’s EIS.

Clean Water Action Alliance Comments: Download file

ME3/Waltons Comments: Download file

From Excelsior’s website:

And for those of you who need more, here’s the most recent update from the MAPP SPG meeting minutes on transmission for Mesaba:

Mesaba Generation: Steve S. reported that the last update on this project was given on May 5, 2005 meeting. The ad-hoc committee for the studies consists of AEP, MP, GRE, XEL and MH. For the first unit (MISO project no G477) rated 530 MW located at Hoyt Lake (near LTD Taconite) the designated point of interconnection is Forbes 230 kV bus. The plant was designated as network resource. Last March, screening and stability results were completed. This project assumes that Arrowhead â?? Weston project is in place. Some 230 kV breakers at the Forbes bus would need to be replaced. The Phase II study, which is the system impact study, started on May 11, 2005 by PTI. It uses summer peak load flow cases. One 115 kV MP line is overloaded (including in the base case as well). MP is completing the short circuit studies. There were some problems with the 2005 stability model, as a result stability studies were delayed, but they are now under way. The results will be reviewed at an October 7, 2005 meeting.

For Unit 2, rated up to 600 MW (Project no G519), an alternate location north of the taconite plant was proposed. The in-service date is one year later at 2011. The point of interconnection is the Blackberry 230 kV bus. It is assumed that the Boswell â?? Wilson 230 kV (in-service 2010) will be built by this date, but the Maple River â?? Benton 345 kV line will not likely be completed (in-service 2012). This unit will require conversion of existing Blackberry â?? Benton and Blackberry â?? Arrowhead from 230 kV to 345 kV and construction of a new Blackberry â?? Riverton 230 kV line.

Mesaba marches on…

And the same meeting minutes note that they’re planning, as if the six “Phase I” projects weren’t enough, they’re planning on resubmitting the Chisago Transmission Project application before year end! But we’ve been hearing that since 2001.

It’s that time of year again. Yes, my office may be in Northfield, and most everyone I know in Northfield knew Wellstone, but I arrived in town in 1997 and didn’t know Wellstone personally. I only dealt with him directly once, when I tracked him down in a hallway at St. Thomas and handed him a draft of radiation victims legislation being promoted by an attorney cohort in Florida, and just a few days later he was visibly working on it. I was impressed that he was paying attention. On the other hand, I have kept the Red Wing Republican Eagle front page from the fall of 2002, not long before Wellstone’s death, where he and NSP Sen. Steve Murphy were yucking it up and the headline read something on the order of “Keep the plant open” and the focus was on Wellstone’s remarks about keeping Prairie Island nuclear plant open, something that appalled me.

It’s also popular to connect publicly with Wellstone and try to ride on his coat-tails — but that his its limits. I was at the Northfield Library and watched Ray Cox try to explain his support of an amendment to prohibit gay marriage, where Ray misused a quote from Wellstone in which he supported the “Defense of Marriage” bill, and Ray did not disclose Wellstone’s very public heartfelt, humble and horrified recant of his support of that bill after the death of Matthew Shepherd. Thankfully Chuck Von Ruden was there to point out Wellstone’s position and Ray’s misuse of Wellstone.

And of course, Casper (“Lost in Washington“) and Wellstone’s “Powerline” is a holy book to me (Mike Casper has a lot to do with my energy philosophy — I had many great hours with the Caspers going up to Chisago on that transmission project, or going to this or that presentation or workshop or dinner on my deck, ranting and raving about energy issues and doing what we can about it all). If you haven’t read Powerline, there are 13 copies at abebooks.com right now! Drop everything and order it. You’ll see that, as we say in transmission, “It’s all connected.” And sadly, not much has changed, except the bankrolls of a few “players.”

That said, have you seen this article in today’s STrib?

Nonfiction review: ‘Paul Wellstone: The Life of a Passionate Progressive’ and ‘Politics the Wellstone Way

Here’s a quote, a “question” from the reporter:

I don’t recall Wellstone being a “bomb-thrower” of other than the benign verbal variety and I’m wondering… did I miss something? I’ve asked the reporter for substantiation, IF THERE IS ANY. I sent the STrib’s Readers Representative a similar missive. If that’s a metaphor for his firey speech or passionate attitude, words like that ought to be in quotes.

From the STrib’s Shortcuts:

Give ’em a break

“This bill is based on the premise that we believe in private free-market capitalism to develop the resources of this land in a cost-efficient fashion.”

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, describing Congress’ new energy bill, which gives $14.5 billion in new subsidies and tax breaks to the oil, gas and nuclear industries.

In Minnesota we have our own version of “giving them a break.” Minnesota invested heavily in NEW coal in last session’s Omnibus Transmission Bill from Hell. As a utility rep said, “You let us build transmission and we’ll build coal, if you don’t, we’ll build distributed generation.” The horse is out of the barn, and here we go with transmission to support coal! Three groups of projects coming soon to a field and town and backyard near you.

Great River Energy, on behalf of the CapX Utilities sent a missive announcing a slight change in plans, following on the heels of their statewide transmission meetings, a “by the way” notice that the utilities are going forward with BIG transmission plans in Minnesota that were NOT discussed at the meetings. Here’s the notice: Download file I’ll just describe them briefly, so you get the large picture.

Here’s the one by me — from Prairie Island to Rochester to LaCrosse, a big new 345kV line, it’s the red dotted line in Minnesota, and blue dotted line in Wisconsin, which I’ve learned they did talk about specifically at the part of the meeting I missed because I’m the eternally late Overland:

This line is claimed to have grown from a Rochester Public Utilities study to cover provision of electricity to Rochester, but it really goes back to the 1998 WRAO report, it’s WRAO Option 2. I have the DRAFT study from Rochester Public Utilities, email me if you want a copy, it’s too big to upload. I’ve found a few things I need to talk to them about, a lot more on that later, but essentially, costs are grossly understated, need is grossly overstated, and the report from a Rochester perspective is a clear demonstration of the need for distributed generation. Oh, well… I’ve been following this study at the MAPP meetings for a while now, and there, and at the Rochester Minnsota Transmission Owners meeting about the Biennial Report, Southeastern Zone they did announce it’s a probable line, that’s after denying it at the MAPP meetings I’d attended. Great, here we go. That’s also what was said about Dairyland’s big coal plant in Adams, so I guess we ought to expect that too, even though it’s not listed on their “Power Supply Updates” page.

… sigh… here’s another one, or two, or three, the red dotted lines, part of the “It’s for Wind!” lie (check Transmission for Dummies #1, 2 – It’s not for Wind!, and 3) and on this map, there’s Big Stone at the western end of the lie, er… line. The divide it into three categories, called “Big Stone II Transmission,” “Buffalo Ridge Outlet” and “Buffalo Ridge — Metro 345kV. Here’s the map:

This is what they say about Big Stone’s 600MW coal upgrade, no suprise for anyone who’s paying attention, but for those who believe the party line, it may be a shock:

The first element to be presented for certificate of need approvals will be transmission facilities associated with the Big Stone generation project. While the Big Stone II partners include some non-CapX members, those of us responsible for transmission associated with Big Stone II have been working closely with the rest of the CapX members and with MISO. As was outlined in the Big Stone notice plan, MISO interconnection studies show that a second unit at Big Stone requires a minimum of two 230kV interconnection lines. The Big Stone partners now intend to propose constructing the line connecting Big Stone and Granite Falls to 345kV standards to better meet and be integrated with CapX, state, and regional objectives. As a result, the Big Stone transmission project, in addition to providing interconnection facilities for a second unit at Big Stone, is now being planned as the first phase of a 345kV line between southwestern Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro area. The Big Stone transmission partners expect to file a certificate of need for these facilities in September.

And last but not least… the “Northwest” project, a misnomer because this first one looks like it ties into Mesaba, which is planned for just a titch north of Bovey, east of Grand Rapids, and the lines there tie into the Arrowhead substation:

And the big honkin’ 345kV line from Fargo to the Metro that will aptly handle that anticipated Coal Creek upgrade:

As we say in transmission, “It’s all connected!”

And as they say in transmission, “You let us build transmission and we’ll build coal, if you don’t, we’ll build distributed generation.”

Take out your WRAO reports, pps. 8, 12, Appendix C-1 p. 1-10, and note that they want to build WRAO Option 2. Hmmm… wasn’t Arrowhead the be all and end all of transmission? But then the’ve permitted parts of WRAO Option 9 and Chisago is WRAO Option 5 and …

Let’s look at what WRAO recommended (p. 12):

Plan 1 (Salem – Fitchburg) – they may do 2 and from LaCrosse to Salem, so…
Plan 2 (Prairie Island-Roch-LaCrosse – to Columbia or W.Middleton) – application pending
Plan 3 (Arrowhead) permitted
Plan 5 (Chisago Weston 345kV) pending at 115/161kV with Arrowhead level capacity
Plan 9 (Lakefield-Columbia) parts to Lakefield are permitted, other parts pending
Plan 10 (King-Weston 345kV) rate increase docket in WI says King-Arpin to be upgraded

WRAO developed many options, recommended that just one, the Arrowhead line, was necessary because it was the be all and end all of transmission, yet here we are with each option considered going forward, some as planned, some morphed, but all of them now planned or permitted.

Yup, it’s all connected. Here we go, massive transmission infrastructure for Minnesota, coming soon to a community near you — or even your own back yard.

First it’s Bill, the math teacher/golf pro, who didn’t think there was enough room for him and the 8 raccoons he trapped in his house, so he went on up to teach in the Chisago schools… then Mr. Wadley died and Mike’s mom moved over to the hi-rise a few blocks away… and now Kathy and Dawn are moving. They’ve been the best of neighbors!

That’s Dawn on the left, Kathy on the right. Not long after I moved in, Kathy’s son got the dead squirrel out of my dryer, and they helped power up my house when I was experiencing “technical difficulties.” I’ve got a communal lawnmower, and their dog beats up my dogs regularly (mine are just being nice with the little bitch, yeah, that’s it).

The good news is that they’re buying their first house (about time!) and are just moving down the block and around the corner a ways. Now the houses on both sides are up for sale — I wish I could buy up the neighborhood.

Congratulations! I’ll miss having the cops come and shine flashlights on you and your friends tossing each other fully clothed into the pool in the wee hours! And Zoe… join us at doggie school! It’s taught by Natalie Faas Gerber, of Faas Kennels & Pet Supply through All Creatures Veterinary Clinic in Lake City (also Red Wing and Goodhue).

Power line capacity at center of debate in western Minnesota

Let’s think about this a bit — all they’ve talked about is voltage. VOLTAGE SAYS NOTHING ABOUT CAPACITY! EARTH TO MARS, TALK MVA TO ME!

Let’s take another look at “Transmission for Wind” in case any of you have missed it. Here’s a link for the conductor chart from Xcel’s approved and permitted Application the SW Minnesota Transmission Proceedings that shows that your basic 230kV line with ACSS conductor, which Xcel claims is now standard, already handles just a touch more than the 600MW of Big Stone. Ex. 35, App. 7. Download file If it’s a bundled line, and I can’t see why they wouldn’t bundle anything they’re building towers for, it’s twice that. The 115/161kV line for Chisago is 848MVA or so. The yellow highlighting is for the SW MN 345kV conductor specs, 2085MVA.

Here’s a link for the MAPP Form 1 showing the same 2085MVA for those who refuse to believe. Download file

And while I’m at it, attached also are the powerflows showing 213-302MVA of that 2085 MVA capacity of that line is from Buff Ridge. So maybe, MAYBE, just a hair over 10% of the capacity of this line is for wind. Download file 213MVA is the 50/50 option where generation is split between north and south as it is, 302 is the 100/0 best case scenario with all generation development in the south and more going into that 345kV line.

I found that SW Incremental Study that shows that the Buff Ridge wind energy is taking the scenic route through Dorsey, Manitoba, then over to Forbes (near the Arrowhead Sub) and then down to Chisago County sub, but it’s way too big to upload.

What the wind gives, line loss taketh away. …sigh… and here we go again, transmission “for wind.”