Oh my… just in, a request to suspend the permitting schedule for Dodge County Wind, the Certificate of Need, the wind site permit, and to WITHDRAW the transmission route permit!
There are 3 Dodge County Wind dockets, a Certificate of Need (17-306), wind siting (17-307), and transmission (17-308). Process wise, it goes to PUC for approval, and the PUC will probably announce a comment period in all 3 dockets. Then Commission will meet, and approve the withdrawal of the transmission without prejudice, so they can refile when they have a workable plan. That withdrawal process will take some time.
That time is an issue, because I don’t see any way they can come up with a transmission plan and get it through the MISO transmission studies to get a permit and start construction by year end. Tax credit implications — they have a problem.
As to the suspension of Certificate of Need and wind siting application proceedings, I’d like to see them dismissed without prejudice also, not suspended, gumming up the works at the Commission. We shall see.
This transmission was absurd from the get-go, a 345kV line with what, a 2,200MVA capacity, for a 170 MW project? They said it was part of a regional interconnection, from the application:
Oh, really? Don’t see it in the MISO MTEP. It’s not… and it’s a radial line, and you just don’t build short radial 345kV lines!
Here are Dodge County Wind’s requests for suspension and withdrawal:
“On August 9, 2019, DCW withdrew its MISO interconnection queue position no. J441, because of the significant interconnection costs associated with that queue position.”
Oh my… what does the MISO DPP Report have to say about that? Just search this report, issued July 25, 2019, for “J441.”
I figured the PUC should have that MISO report in the record:
And check out the summary page on p. 149 of the 150 page pdf.
After getting the 345kV route alternatives “C” and “D” ejected, not to be considered in the FEIS, this is just the icing on the cake!!
Dodge Center Xmsn – Mission Accomplished!
Here’s some background info from just over a year ago:
Dodge County Wind info presentation
July 29th, 2018
From the very beginning, with Dodge County Concerned Citizens working hard to inform people of the project, all three dockets, and Dodge Center’s Tom Applegate going door to door and encouraging people to write comments and send photos showing how the transmission line would affect their neighborhood in Dodge Center, this public input helped call the entire project into question. With the DEIS rejecting transmission alternative routes C and D, and with the MISO interconnection study showing so many network upgrades needed at a very high cost, this project is no longer viable. The people affected by this project have had a tremendous impact.
Dodge Center 345 kV transmission?
June 15th, 2019
I’ve been trying to figure out where the notion of these two routes through Dodge Center originated, and went back to the Public Utilities Commission meeting video of the March 5, 2019 meeting. We have Commissioner Tuma to thank for this hare-brained idea:
Check this video (how long do they leave them up) between 7:09 and 24:50: http://minnesotapuc.granicus.com/player/clip/894?view_id=2
Commissioner Tuma suggested this right out the gate. He said “I went and google mapped… walked through these cities and unless you put it on the same pole, you’re not going to do it.” EERA’s Steinhauer’s befuddlement is apparent, and to include these route proposals in the Scoping Decision is an absolute waste of time — if Tuma had indeed gone over the routes on google earth, if he had any notion of the width of a 345kV transmission line… Earth to Mars, even if you put it on a pole, you’re not going to do it. This is what it looks like on Google Earth:
Here’s the letter we sent to Commerce yesterday — the green and red routes through Dodge Center are not workable in any sense. Look at the impact on the folks who live there — people who would be uprooted from their homes:
This is the letter sent by the City of Dodge Center.
It’s something, it’s a start, but there are basic factual errors, i.e., “200 feet” mentioned twice?
Where did they get that “200” number from? 345kV easements are 150 feet, yet this 200′ is repeated over and over, and no where is there a mention of 200 feet. It also makes light of the reality of what these routes would mean, i.e., “passing within 200 feet,” rather than saying that at least ______ homes would be within the easement, residents/landowners would be displaced, and properties would be razed and clear cut. “Passing within” is just too passive…
The good news is that the City has committed to attending and speaking up at future hearings if these routes should go forward. In light of the reality of these proposals, I don’t see how Commerce could recommend they go further.
Back to the video, between 7:09 and 24:50: http://minnesotapuc.granicus.com/player/clip/894?view_id=2
In the video above, Commissioner Tuma kept referring to Freeborn, and I don’t see a similar issue here. ??? He spoke of landowners objecting, and of course landowners object, but what is the connection or similarity with the routes he’s proposing? And it was good to hear Commissioner Schuerger raising the oversized 345kV line. That’s utterly absurd, and I sure hope they get into the reasoning behind that. I’ll bet it’s all about financing and that the developer wouldn’t be held responsible for costs if it’s part of a regional system build-out like MVP.
Onward… it’s obscene to think that a transmission line of this size can be run through Dodge Center, run through people’s yards, over their homes, to waste people’s time, and subject them to this bogus “alternative” with the specter of ejecting them and bulldozing their homes.
NO! JUST NO!
Xmsn through Dodge Center?
June 4th, 2019
The Dept. of Commerce was instructed by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to include routes for the Dodge County Wind project to include existing transmission corridors. Commerce didn’t haul out a transmission map at the time to say “WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST” and instead chose “routes” that run right through the heart of Dodge Center, and which would, with a 150′ easement, not only tower over residential neighborhood but would displace rows of homes because the easement edge would run right through the houses!
CLICK HERE for Dept. of Commerce Dodge County transmission site.
CLICK HERE for Commerce’s INTERACTIVE WEB MAP
Here’s what it looks like from the sky:
CLICK HERE for City of Dodge Center page on this transmission proposal.
City of Dodge Center is missing the boat in suggesting people wait to let Commerce know how bizarre, unconstructable, and most importantly, how many people would be displaced, how many homes would be bulldozed, to build a 345kV transmission line with 150 foot rights of way through town. The time to send WRITTEN comments to Commerce is NOW, because when the DEIS is released at the end of June (probably, though maybe later), it should say that those routes through town should not be further considered as they just won’t work.
Send comments, with photos showing existing transmission in relation to your home, your neighbors’ homes, to:
suzanne.steinhauer@state.mn.us
The sooner you weigh in the easier it is to alter the outcome. In the case of administrative proceedings, you snooze, you lose.
The City of Dodge Center needs to get on this too, NOW. Why? It’s in the City’s interest to have routes through town and through these neighborhoods stopped, to assure that they don’t go forward in the environmental review. If you’re in Dodge Center and are concerned, contact your City Council representative:
DODGE CENTER COUNCIL MEMBERS CONTACT INFO HERE
Comments must be in writing, phone calls don’t count (though you can get more information that way, by calling Suzanne Steinhauer: (651) 201-2251).
DODGE THIS TRANSMISSION LINE!
Dodge County Wind info presentation
July 29th, 2018
Dodge County Concerned Citizens asked me to do an information presentation on NextEra’s Dodge County Wind project, which was recently applied for at the Public Utilities Commission. Here’s my presentation:
Turbine and Transmission Neighbors?
Completeness comments are due August 10, 2018, with reply comments due August 17, 2018.
20187-144854-01_PUC Notice_Completeness Comments_ALL dockets
How to file?
Here’s a form you could use for guidance — yes, its a test, and an essay test at that. Your original words are what count, because you know your community best, what impacts on the ground might be. You can best identify the material issues.
It was interesting that Beth Soholt, is concerned enough to show up on a Saturday morning! She’s the ED of wind industry association Wind on the Wires (f/k/a program of Izaak Walton League Midwest until Bill Grant was appointed Deputy Commissioner – Energy – Dept. of Commerce) But her being there was not much of a surprise, because NextEra’s Julie Voeck is Chair of the WOW Board. And don’t forget that PUC Commissioner Matt Schuerger’s “Energy Systems Consulting Services” was a primary recipient of Waltons/WOW consulting funds. As we say in transmission, “It’s all connected.”
Can’t find a Dodge County Wind, LLC website (it is a Delaware LLC registered with Minnesota Secretary of State), and NextEra has nothing on its website about the LLC, nor about the Dodge County project, that I can find, ALL Press Releases are about MONEY, not a one about “Dodge County.” There is a separate transmission page with “project info” but no project specific info there either.
This project was really difficult to dig through, because there are THREE dockets: Certificate of Need (17-306); Wind Siting (17-307); and Transmission Routing (17-308). WHEW! This would be overwhelming to anyone, and to try to explain what’s proposed, the process (UGH!), and issues, that’s a couple of books… whether fiction or non-fiction remains to be determined.
Post Bulletin – Proposed Dodge County wind farm raises questions
KTTC – Dodge County Concerned Citizens holds informational meeting on proposed wind turbine project
KIMT – Wind project proposed in Dodge County
This project has been brewing for a while, because there’s a Certificate of Need requirement of a Notice Plan before anything is applied for, and then notice goes out as laid out in the Notice Plan.
I’m on the general service list for all projects, pretty much everything, so I have an idea what’s new and exciting at the PUC, but it’s pretty hard to track it all. For this project, the initial “notice” filings for 17-306 (Certificate of Need) & 17-308 (345kV transmission line) were in April, 2017, and the transmission route app and wind site permit app were not filed until 6/29. The wind site permit is most significant in terms of cost and geographic spread, and nothing was filed until June 29, 2018, less than a month ago. The wind site permit filings contain an affidavit of mailing of notice but NO ADDRESSES, and the transmission affidavit of mailing of notice DOES have addresses. Why are no addresses included?
Three dockets, all those filings, at least 1,000 pages, and I confess haven’t read all of it! What jumps out at me is that this is another scattered site project, with a large footprint. It’s a 170MW project, not unusual in that way, but the turbines proposed are 2.5 MW turbines. That’s BIG! The reported hub height is 291 feet, and from ground to tip of blade, 485.5 feet. That’s BIG!
How to look at the dockets:
So now, quick because Completeness Comments are due, it’s time for people to take a look at this project, what’s proposed for the wind project, the big honkin’ transmission line, and whether all this is needed.
Oh, and about that big honkin’ transmission line, here’s a cut and paste from their application:
Characterizing this bundled 345kV line as “generation inter-tie?” Oh, please…
