Legalectric

Today Comments were due on Minnesota Power’s Great Northern Transmission Line.  I’m sorry, but I just can’t bring myself to call a transmission line “Great” and that’s just how it is…  Anyway, Minnesota Power is getting ready to file a Certificate of Need application, this is the lead up, what they have to do to provide notice to people when they actually file.  So here’s their draft plan:

Minnesota Power’s Notice Plan for Great Northern Transmission Line

Comments on that plan were due today.  Here’s what I filed:

Overland’s Notice Plan Comments, November 19, 2012

Here’s what Commerce filed earlier today:

MOES Comment – GNTL Notice Plan

Haven’t gotten word on any others.

To keep an eye on what’s going on in this docket, go HERE and search for docket 12-1163.

A little sidebar here — while looking for a logo, some things popped out — did you know that Minnesota Power sponsors, with the Lignite Energy Council, a “Teachers Seminar” on coal?  It’s the only teacher workshop listed, though there are multiple listings under “School Programs” and “Educational Materials.”

Lignite Education Seminar

OH MY!  Check their “Electricity 101” pdf:

Electricity 101

p. 7:

1929—Stock market crash revealed that many holding companies were over-leveraged

–As a result, federal and state governments strengthened utility regulation.

There are some interesting charts and graphs in Electricity 101 that are interesting and that I’d like to see updated.  Hear that, MP!?!?!

Got that?  NO hockey sticks in the hotel!

Yesterday, both meetings, in Hermantown and in Grand Rapids, were well attended.  The Hermantown municipal building is new, nothing like that was there last time I was in town, it’s been a while.  Very nice building, wonder if Minnesota Power’s Arrowhead transmission line had anything to do with that?

Here are copies of what I’ve been handing out:

Handout – November GNTL Meetings

Notice Plan Comment Form – click to download editable form

Notice Plan Comments are due November 19, 2012, and Reply Comments due December 10, 2012.  Send to burl.haar@state.mn.us, with “Great Northern Notice Plan Comments – Docket 12-1163” in subject line.

Minnesota Power’s Notice Plan for Great Northern Transmission Line

I’ve been looking for the studies that support this line, made some progress, but not enough, MISO has a page on the Northern Area Study.  Here’s the kind of map I find interesting, one that shows the flows and areas where they want more, from 20120921 Northern Area Study Transmission Design:

Here are the docs listed (hey MISO, don’t bother deleting them, I’ve got them saved…):

Northern Area Study TRG
	NAS_LDE_Congestion_09212012
	NAS_IntcInterfaceFlows_NASUn_CA_09282012
	NAS_IncInterfaceFlows_NASUn_SS_09282012
	NAS_IncInterfaceFlows_EastUn_SS_09282012
	NAS_IncInterfaceFlows_EastUN_CA_09282012
	NAS_HDE_Congestion_09212012
	NAS_BAU_Congestion_09212012
	20121102 Northern Area Study TRG Agenda
	20121102 Northern Area Study Presentation
	20120921 Northern Area Study Transmission Design
	20120921 Northern Area Study Presentation
	20120921 Northern Area Study FULL RESULTS
	20120921 Northern Area Study Economic Factors
	20120921 Northern Area Study Agenda
	20120801 Northern Area Study Scope
	20120711 Northern Area Study Presentation Scope Follow-up
	20120607 Northern Area Study TRG Presentation
	20120607 Northern Area Study TRG Agenda

A little birdie gave me a heads up yesterday… as if a big ol’ MinnCan tar sands pipeline wasn’t enough, now Minnesota Power wants to build a transmission line… make that TWO.  There’s a 500kV line coming down from Canada to somewhere on the range, maybe Hibbing, and then there’s a double circuited 345kV from the west to Duluth.  Fifty miles west of Duluth, that will start where???

Tell me this, MP, if this is intended to bring in hydro as a backup to wind, are you then shutting down the coal plant in Cohasset?  Or are you going to be selling it on the market?

Minnesota Power announces transmission project

And here it is in the STrib:

Canada-to-Iron Range power line proposed

Article by: DAVID SHAFFER , Star Tribune
Updated: February 9, 2012 – 8:30 PM

Minnesota Power said Thursday that it plans to build a 350-mile transmission line from Winnipeg to bring hydropower to its customers in northern Minnesota.

The Duluth-based company, a division of Allete Inc., said it filed an intent to pursue the project with the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO), which manages the electrical grid in 11 states and Manitoba.

The project is tied to Minnesota Power’s agreement to purchase 250 megawatts of hydropower from Winnipeg-based Manitoba Hydro beginning in 2020. The power from Manitoba hydroelectric dams will serve as a backup to intermittent wind power generated at Minnesota Power’s wind farms in North Dakota.

Minnesota Power said the 500-kilovolt line would run south from Winnipeg and connect to a substation on the Mesabi Iron Range serving the taconite and paper industries.

Minnesota Power spokeswoman Amy Rutledge said the utility will consider building along existing transmission lines to reduce disruption. Xcel Energy Inc., based in Minneapolis, owns one transmission link to Canada, and Minnesota Power is sole or part owner of two others, she said.

Separately, Minnesota Power said it is evaluating with American Transmission Co. a proposed 50-mile, 345-kilovolt line from the Iron Range to Duluth. The cost and ownership shares of the projects have not been determined, the utility said.