Legalectric

Impacts of coronavirus in China are far reaching. Solar projects now up in the air. Just in from the Wisconsin PSC on the NextEra Two Creeks solar project (note there is NO mention of this on the NextEra Press Release page) and from Invenergy on the Badger Hollow solar project (likewise no mention of this on the Invenergy “News” page):

This is HUGE. It hadn’t registered on me the potential impact of a China shutdown, nor had it registered on the PSC staff’s brain either until now! WOW.

Force Majeure is where something happens that’s utterly out of the control of the party making the claim that for whatever reason, they can’t meet their part of the contract, the permit, in this case, some parts for the project, specifically the “Nextracker” racking system for the Two Creeks project (2/6/2020 letter, ERF 38614), and generally unspecified project parts for the Badger Hollow project (2/10/2020 letter, ERF 38613). Many solar panels come from China, and there are thousands of panels needed for these projects.

Likely this is something affecting any solar project expecting shipments from China.

WHY DID IT TAKE 20 DAYS AND 16 DAYS FOR THIS TO BE POSTED ON THE PSC’S SITE BY WPS? WHAT OTHER PROJECTS DOES THIS APPLY TO? For example, the Invenergy letter of February 10, 2020 from Invenergy has only been filed in the Badger Hollow docket, filed by WPS, NextEra’s only for Two Creeks. Has Notice been given verbally to PSC as it was for these projects? Is there a letter to be filed regarding other dockets as well? If so, where’s the Notice? Are there also parts and pieces from China for other Invenergy projects, i.e., the Freeborn Wind project? I’m wondering if these Force Majeure Notices are landing in Minnesota too. Inquiring minds want to know!