Transmission — it’s all connected.  In looking at the Minnesota rulemaking, and the existing and proposed rules that utilize the word “regional,” I’m thinking about big picture stuff, the big proposals in the wings, and that Joint Coordinated System Plan (JCSP) map sure presents a big picture. For some reason, I’ve not been able to find the full JCSP report until recently:

JCSP_Report_Volume_1

JCSP_Report_Volume_2

Who cares about JCSP?  Well, WE’D better care, because look who’s paying for the transmission build-out (p. 68 of Vol. 1):

Look at the numbers for Midwest ISO, a $-10,293, or for MAPP, a $12,292, that’s a COST, not a savings.  MISO and MAPP get nominal production cost savings and massive load COSTS.  This is not news, but is worth repeating as we discuss “regional.”  And another take with the same take-away of big costs for MISO and MAPP customers, used by our good friends at  AWEA to promote this transmission buildout in their flyer called “Green Power Transmission and Consumer Savings” (flyer below):

Read the whole thing:

AWEA_Transmission_and_Consumer_Savings

What a deal, eh?

Look what AWEA has been advocating to make this happen:

Federal Siting
In addition to regional planning and cost allocation,
substantial reform of the transmission siting process is
required to meet national renewable energy goals. The
most effective model is the siting authority that was given
to FERC over interstate natural gas pipelines. For green
power superhighways, the extra-high-voltage facilities
defined in the regional plans would be subject to FERC
approval and permitting. Separate siting approval at the
state level would not be required. FERC would act as the
lead agency for purposes of coordinating all applicable
federal authorizations and environmental reviews with other
affected agencies.
Check their “Policy Solutions on p. 3:
Again, this is not new news, I remember fighting over this with the Waltons/Wind on the Wires in 2005, their agenda was all about increasing federal authority and decreasing state authority… and of course they’re not part of this rulemaking, there are NO, NONE, NOT ONE enviro group participating in this transmission rulemaking docket.
The point of JCSP is to increase power flows along those red pathways — who benefits and who loses:
There’s been little talk of JCSP lately, but given the rate of return for transmission construction, it’s hard to believe it’s not lying in wait.
And if it’s not all about coal, why is this the case (Vol. 1, p. 190):