Where does New Era go from here??
April 19th, 2013
The continuing saga of the Goodhue Wind project … well… it continues, with Reply Comments filed yesterday with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. This encompases FOUR dockets at the PUC — to see them, go HERE and search for dockets:
09-1186 Certificate of Need
09-1349 Power Purchase Agreement
09-1350 Power Purchase Agreement
08-1233 Siting
This most recent flurry of Comments was triggered by the PUC’s Order requesting a lot of information from New Era and parties and the public:
New Era responded with a request for delay and did not answer the PUC’s questions:
So here are the Goodhue Wind Truth Reply Comments:
And New Era sent this a few minutes to 4 p.m. yesterday, with a couple snippets:
At this point, given the Commission’s March 20, 2013 Order, New Era has no confidence that due process for this project will ever end, nor that an ABPP will ever be approved, however comprehensively and carefully drafted.
…
Nonetheless, for reasons not fully known to New Era, and after a delay of two and a half months from the date of its detailed proposals, NSP chose to reject all of these proposals, as set forth in their letter to New Era of April 12, 2013, a copy of which New Era expects NSP will file with the Commission or on about the date of these reply comments. New Era notes that while its proposals requesting an assignment of the power contracts were pending, NSP issued an RFP for additional wind energy and collected bids in response thereto, including bids from the three companies backing the New Era proposals.
New Era continues to believe that an assignment of the power contracts to a third-party site would be a reasonable compromise and solution to the difficult circumstances surrounding this project.
In its April 12, 2013 letter to New Era, NSP stated that New Era would have 30 days from that date to effect a cure of the power contract defaults.
So we fired off a quick response, particularly regarding New Era’s “Where does New Era go from here.” How does one resist an invitation to tell them were to go?
GWT Reply Comments II April 17 2013
II. WHERE DOES NEW ERA GO FROM HERE?
New Era notes that all of its proposals to NSP to cure the defaults in the Power Purchase Agreements have been rejected as of a letter of April 12, 2013. GWT appreciates that disclosure. As of April 12, 2013, per New Era, NSP has stated that New Era has 30 days to cure the defaults in the PPAs. Therefore, as of May 12, 2013, or opening for business on Monday, May 13, 2013, New Era will be able to report status to the Commission and the Commission will know whether there has been a cure or whether the project is terminal. Regarding New Era’s question “Where does New Era go from here,” Goodhue Wind Truth requests that if, as expected, the defaults in the PPAs are not cured, that New Era go away, formally withdrawing the Certificate of Need and Siting applications. GWT takes no position as to New Era’s destination.
What result are we looking for?
Goodhue Wind Truth asks that the Commission provide the opportunity for New Era to withdraw its Certificate of Need and Siting applications. If New Era fails to withdraw its applications, Goodhue Wind Truth requests that the Commission either directly deny New Era’s request, or in the alternative, take no action to extend the Certificate of Need in-service date.
New Era, the clock is ticking…
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