Xcel Energy demand down, down, down!

Filed under:Laws & Rules,News coverage,Nuts & Bolts,PUC Docket,Reports - Documents — posted by admin on September 28, 2014 @ 9:21 am

arrowdown

I’ve been saying this for so many years, that electric demand is down, down, down, and instead, Xcel Energy (and all the others) have been saying it’s going UP, UP, UP (even though Mikey Bull said years ago that they wouldn’t need power for a while), and they’re applying for and getting Certificates of Need for all these permits for utility infrastructure that are obviously designed to market and sell the surplus, and the Public Utilities pretends to be oblivious (I say “pretends” because I cannot believe they’re that unaware and uninformed.).

This is a must read:

Xcel Compliance Filing_CN-13-606_20149-103251-02

Here’s the short version from Xcel:

XcelPeak

2024 is expected to be about what it was back in 2007, the industry peak year.  DOH!  But note this — there’s a “small capacity surplus in 2016.”  DOH!

 

And given the surplus which we’ve known has been present and looming larger, that’s why they then ask for withdrawal of the Certificate of Need for the Prairie Island uprate because it isn’t needed (and really, that was just what, 80 MW or so?  Or 80 MW x 2 reactors, 160 MW?).  If they don’t need that small uprate, why on earth would they need so much more?

DOH!

But what do I know…

Hollydale Transmission Line was clearly not needed, and they withdrew that application…

CapX 2020 transmission was based on a 2.49% annual increase in demand, and for Hampton-La Crosse in part supposedly based on Rochester and La Crosse demand numbers, yeah right, we know better, but that was their party line.  Again, DOH, it didn’t add up to needing a big honkin’ 345 kV transmission line stretching from the coal plants in the Dakotas to Madison and further east, but who cares, let’s just build it…

ITC MN/IA 345 kV line — the state said the 161 kV should be sufficient to address transmission deficiencies in the area, but noooooo, DOH, that wouldn’t address the “need” for bulk power transfer (the real desire for the line).

Here’s a bigger picture of the bottom line (I’m accepting this as a more accurate depiction, not necessarily the TRUTH, but close enough for electricity), keeping in mind that these are PROJECTIONS, and that they’re adding a “Coincident Peak adjustment” which should be included in the “peak” calculations):

Xcel Resource Need Assessment 2014

Notice the only slight reduction in coal capacity, just 19 MW, nuclear stays the same, a 320 MW decrease in gas, a 128 MW reduction in Wind, Hydro, Biomass, which I hope includes garbage burners and the Benson turkey shit plant , slight increase in solar of 18 MW, and Load Management also a slight increase of only 80 MW.  This is Xcel Energy with its business as usual plan, which has to go.  We can do it different, and now is the time.

Will someone explain why we paid so much to uprate Monticello, and paid to rebuild Sherco 3?

DOH!

From the archives:

500+ give LS Power a piece of their mind

October 20th, 2009

2012 NERC Long Term Reliability Assessment

May 7th, 2013

PJM Demand is DOWN!

November 15th, 2012

PUC CoN & Siting/Routing FINAL Rulemaking meeting

Filed under:ITC MN & IA 345 kV,Laws & Rules,Nuts & Bolts,PUC Docket — posted by admin on September 17, 2014 @ 12:34 pm

DraftIt’s final… that is, the FINAL meeting notice was just issued, one more go round on these draft rules for Certificate of Need (Minn. R. Ch. 7849) and Power Plant Siting Act (siting and routing of utility infrastructure) (Minn. R. Ch. 7850).

We’ve been at this for about a year and a half, maybe more, and to some extent we’re going round and round and round.

Here are the September 2014 drafts, hot off the press:

September Draft 7849

September Draft 7850

Send your comments, meaning SPECIFIC comments, not “THIS SUCKS” but comments on the order of “because of _______, proposed language for 7950.xxxx should be amended to say_______.”  It’s a bit of work, but it’s important, for instance, the Advisory Task Force parts are important because we were just before the PUC on this last week, trying to reinforce that Task Force’s are necessary, despite Commerce efforts to eliminate and/or neuter them.  That despite ALJ orders otherwise, the Final EIS should be in the record BEFORE the Public Hearings and Evidentiary Hearings (just lost a Motion to require this last month).

How can you comment?  The best way is to fire off an email to the Commission’s staff person leading this group:

kate.kahlert@state.mn.us

If you’re up to it, sign up on the PUC’s eDockets, and file your Comment in Docket 12-1246.  If you’d like your comment filed there, and can’t figure it out, please send it to me and I’ll file it for you.  It’s important that these comments be made in a way that the Commission will SEE, in a way that they cannot ignore, when this comes up before them.

PUC Rulemaking — send Comments on Drafts

Filed under:Buy the Farm,Laws & Rules,Nuts & Bolts,Upcoming Events — posted by admin on September 1, 2014 @ 9:40 am

pilesofiles

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is winding up its rulemaking on the Certificate of Need (Minn. R. Ch. 7849) and Siting/Routing (Minn. R. Ch. 7850) chapters.  My clients Goodhue Wind Truth and North Route Group have been participating all along, and their experience with the Certificate of Need and Routing/Siting process has helped inform this record and we sure hope leads to more sensible and workable rules, AND increased public participation.

Now is the time to download and make your comments on what should be included, what’s included that’s important and needs to go forward, and what needs to be reworded.

August 13 Draft 7849

7850 July 8 draft

August 13 Ch. 7850 comparison

Send Comments to:

  • kate.kahlert@state.mn.us
  • and/or post to the Rulemaking Docket.  To do that go HERE to the eDocket Filing Page, register if you’re not registered (it’s easy and almost instant), and post to Docket 12-1246.

It’s highly likely that the LAST meeting of the PUC’s Rulemaking Advisory Committee will be the one on September 24, 2014 (9:30 a.m. at the PUC, in the basement).

A few things that need work:

  • Ch. 7849 & 7850: Need language mirroring statutory language regarding testimony by members of the public UNDER OATH (ALJs have refused to offer people opportunity to testify under oath, and PUC has stated that it makes a difference, “but were those statements made under oath” and if not, less weight.
  • Ch. 7849: Advisory Task Forces need language of statute, and membership not limited to “local units of government.”
  • Ch. 7849 & 7850: Transcripts available online — need to address this in rules and reporter contracts.
  • Ch. 7849: Scoping and Alternatives — compare with Ch. 7850.  Similar process?
  • Ch. 7849.1450: When is it Commerce EER & DER
  • Ch. 7849 & 7850 – timing should be similar for completeness review, etc.
  • Ch. 7850: Public Meeting separate from Scoping Meeting (Public Meeting is to disseminate information, Scoping Meeting is for intake).
  • Ch. 7850: Power Plant Siting Act includes “Buy the Farm.”  Need rules regarding Buy the Farm.

Now is the time to review the drafts, above, and send in Comments.  There may be, I hope there are, revisions released prior to the next meeting, but usually it happens just before, and there’s no time.  So here’s where we are now, and Comments would be helpful.

Latest version of PUC draft rules

Filed under:Laws & Rules,Nuts & Bolts — posted by admin on August 17, 2014 @ 7:58 am

We’re working on the revisions of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission rules for Certificate of Need (Minn. R. Ch. 7849) and for Routing/Siting (Minn. R. Ch. 7850), and it’s OH SO PAINFUL.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, August 20 from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the Commission’s Large Hearing Room in the Metro Square Building, located at 121 Seventh Place East, St. Paul, MN 55101. The PUC will provide refreshments.

FINAL MEETING – Wednesday September 24, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Here are the latest drafts.

August 13 Draft 7849

7850 July 8 draft

August 13 Ch. 7850 comparison

The next meeting is this Wednesday, so not much time for review and comment.  Comments can be sent to kate.kahlert [at] state.mn.us and/or posted in the PUC’s Rulemaking Docket, 12-1246.  To see what all has been filed in that docket, go to PUC SEARCH DOCKETS PAGE and search for 12-1246 (“12” is the year, “1246” is the docket number).

North Dakota xmsn complete — more coal on the wires!

Filed under:News coverage,Nuts & Bolts,RUS EIS — posted by admin on August 3, 2014 @ 4:55 pm

Hearing Ex. 13, Big Picture Map

See that line up there going through North Dakota?  They’ve just finished it, it’s ready to energize.  And of course, it’s clear that now that Minnesota Power has bought the DC line that’s been used for coal, that now the coal will go over CapX lines off through Minnesota to Wisconsin and points east.  HUH?  Yes, they allude to in a “We’ve completed this new transmission line” article it not-so-subtly:

The reassignment of an existing transmission line also means more transmission facilities are needed.

… and:

“Once built, the bulk flow of electricity moves to the new line, which frees up capacity on the underlying system.”

DOH!

The USDA/RUS documents say it very clearly:

Minnkota has proposed the construction of approximately 260 miles of 345-kilovolt (kV) transmission line from Center to Grand Forks, N.D., to deliver additional energy recently secured from Milton R. Young 2, a 455-megawatt (MW) coal-fi red plant near Center, N.D., owned by Square Butte Electric Cooperative.

… and this:

To bring the energy generated by Young 2 into the Red River Valley, Minnkota will construct a new 345-kilovolt (kV) transmission line from Center to Grand Forks. Building the new transmission line will enablethe existing DC transmission line from theMilton R. Young Station to carry more renewable wind energy.

Here’s that original RUS document:

Scoping Report_Appendix I

There’s still the shifted coal into the Eastern Interconnect and proposed expansions to deal with — those mentioned in the federal opinion tossing out the 2007 “Next Generation Energy Act” saying “no go” under the Commerce Clause:

  • Read the April 18, 2014 decision, ND-v-Heydinger-in-11-cv-3232, declaring the Next Generation Energy Act unconstitutional.  First, the decision notes that the Dry Fork coal plant has been moved from the West into the Eastern Interconnect (it’s “new coal” now on transmission heading our way that wasn’t coming here before).
  • Second, also in that decision, it discusses plans for a new coal fired plant in South Dakota.
  • And third, it notes the potential for an additional unit at Dry Fork, which is now in Eastern Interconnect (coming our way).
  • Fourth, it discusses the surplus at Milton Young, which would be exacerbated by transmission prohibitions of the Next Generation Energy Act.  This fourth item is addressed by this Center, ND to Grand Forks, ND transmission project.

Very logical, makes a lot of sense.  It’s not like Minnesota Power’s taking that line would make them shut down a coal plant!

So now we have one more transmission line in the superhighway from the Dakotas to Madison and beyond…

250-mile transmission line to Grand Forks completed

Minnkota Power Cooperative’s 345-kilovolt line spans from near Center, N.D., to Grand Forks, where the co-op is based. The $353 million project began construction more than two years ago, according to a news release.

Demand down, “It’s a new world for us” utilities!

Filed under:News coverage,Nuts & Bolts — posted by admin on July 29, 2014 @ 11:45 am

I love it when this happens — when the truth is so obvious that they can no longer deny it:

Energy Lag

This decreased demand is the reason they want us to pay for transmission lines across the U.S. so they can market all this surplus power in locations where prices are higher.  DOH!

Electricity Sales Anemic for Seventh Year in a Row – WSJ July 28 2014

 

Judge denies Motion for FEIS Comment period

Filed under:ITC MN & IA 345 kV,Laws & Rules,Nuts & Bolts — posted by admin on July 24, 2014 @ 8:40 pm

DOH!

Hot off the press… Judge La Fave has denied CETF/No CapX 2020 Motion requesting comment period of at least 10 days after FEIS released for public to comment on adequacy.

Order Denying CETF and No CapX Motion for Extension of Period for Public Comment

WOW.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement in the ITC Midwest MN/IA 345 kV line docket was not released until after the public hearings, after the evidentiary hearing, and on same date Initial Briefs were due.  So we filed this motion:

CETF NoCapX_Motion FEIS_Amended

Here are the two Replies to the Motion:

ITC Reply to Motion_20145-99844-01

Commerce Reply to Motion_20145-99801-01

The Minnesota Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) specifies that the “final detailed environmental impact statement… shall accompany the proposal through an administrative review process.”

Prior to the preparation of a final environmental impact statement, the governmental unit responsible for the statement shall consult with and request the comments of every governmental office which has jurisdiction by law or special expertise with respect to any environmental effect involved. Copies of the drafts of such statements and the comments and views of the appropriate offices shall be made available to the public. The final detailed environmental impact statement and the comments received thereon shall precede final decisions on the proposed action and shall accompany the proposal through an administrative review process.

Minn. Stat. §116D.04, Subd. 6a.

And FYI, here’s what the PUC’s draft 7850 rule has to say about this — the FEIS release timing has been an issue for a long time — and the PUC’s draft rule language anticipates that the final EIS will be filed PRIOR to the Public Hearing and Evidentiary hearing:

EIS Project Schedule

The schedule for adoption of these rules is way, way out there, and no help, but it gives insight/incite into the Commission take on timing of FEIS release!   That and $0.50 will get cha…

CapX 2020 xfmr inching toward Briggs Rd substation

Filed under:News coverage,Nuts & Bolts,Wisconsin — posted by admin on July 10, 2014 @ 5:58 pm

Here’s another video in Transmission and Distribution World.

It was stuck, too muddy to move into place, so they waited… and now, onward… waiting for the youtube, and until then, we get another transformer — a CapX 2020 video of the North Rochester transformer move:

Back to the nature trail near La Crosse. Love the photos, this one by Erik Daily of the La Crosse Tribune:

53be0a5b8ee99.preview-620

Transformer resumes slow journey

HOLMEN — A nearly 200-ton transformer destined for a new high-voltage substation resumed its slow journey Wednesday, a week after being sidelined by water-logged fields.

Riding on a 14-axle self-propelled trailer, the device crept through cornfields and across the Great River State bike trail en route to its eventual home in a substation being built on Briggs Road as part of the CapX2020 electric transmission project.

Crews in diesel material handlers assembled an oak “mat” to keep the load from sinking into the soil, picking up the beams as the trailer inched forward and placing them in its path.

Built in South Korea, the transformer traveled by ship to Houston and by train to a rail spur just a couple of miles from the substation. But a 20-ton bridge over Halfway Creek couldn’t bear the weight, said Rob Bullis, substation foreman for Xcel Energy.

Though smaller than a semi trailer, there’s more to this transformer than meets the eye. It weighs in at 387,000 pounds thanks to a half dozen coils inside its steel sheeting.

The transformer was expected to complete the final leg of its journey today with a jaunt up County Road XX and across a soybean field to the substation. Hydraulic rams on the trailer will nudge it down I-beam supports greased with dish soap until it can be lowered onto a concrete pad, where it will convert incoming electricity from the 345 kilovolts used for long-distance transmission to 161 kv.

The Briggs Road substation is one of six on the CapX2020, a $550 million high-voltage transmission line between Hampton, Minn., and Holmen.

Though Xcel has larger substations, Bullis said it will be the utility’s biggest built from scratch.

It’s expected to begin some operations in mid-September and to be fully operational in 2015.

CETF and No CapX DEIS Comments

Filed under:ITC MN & IA 345 kV,Nuts & Bolts — posted by admin on May 9, 2014 @ 7:25 am

pilesofiles

DEIS Comments FILED on the ITC Midwest MN/IA Transmission Project!!!  Please feel free to use for ideas for your comments — license to steal, borrow, copy.  Remember Comments are due by 4:30 TODAY!

raymond.kirsch@state.mn.us

fax: 651.539.0109

Ray Kirsch, Environmental Review Manager
Minnesota Department of Commerce
85 – 7th Place East, Suite 500
St. Paul, MN  55101-2198
 

Here are our comments, hot off the press and just eFiled,  plus exhibits:

DEIS Comments No CapX and CETF

ICF-IndependentAssessmentMISOBenefits (see p. 15 of pdf & p. 84/85 — doc pages are obscured)

RTO operational benefits are largely associated with the improved ability to displace gas generation with coal generation, more efficient use of coal generation, and better use of import potential.

Ex 35 ConductorSpecs

Corona and UV

Copy of CALCULATED MAGNETIC FIELD CHARTS

 

ITC’s MN/IA line — DEIS Comments and FEIS release

Filed under:ITC MN & IA 345 kV,Nuts & Bolts — posted by admin on May 8, 2014 @ 11:10 am

Comments are due on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on May 9 — that’s TOMORROW!  More on this below on this post.

raymond.kirsch@state.mn.us

fax: 651.539.0109

Ray Kirsch, Environmental Review Manager
Minnesota Department of Commerce
85 – 7th Place East, Suite 500
St. Paul, MN  55101-2198

Now, about the Environmental Review and scheduling…

Here’s a part of the Scheduling Order for the ITC Midwest MN/IA 345 kV line docket:snippet

As I work on the DEIS comments due tomorrow on the ITC Midwest MN/IA 345 kV Transmission Project, I realized that environmental review is not incorporated into the scheduling order:

SchedOrder3_20144-98187-01

That’s most unusual… I had to call Ray Kirsch to find out when the Final EIS is going to be released.  That’s July 11, 2014.  It’s not on the Scheduling Order.  So what?  Well, think about it… what that means is that the public hearings are May 13 & 14th, the Evidentiary Hearings is May 19 – 23rd, the record closes on May 30, and so all the hearings are over and the record is closed when the FEIS is released!  It also means that the Public Comment period, which closes also on May 30, 2014, doesn’t give the public any way to comment on adequacy of the FEIS.  And parties’ Initial Briefs are due on July 11, 2014, so we can’t comment on it in the Initial Briefs either.  No, this is not OK.

So I fired off a letter, and am ready to file a Motion if need be:

CETF & No CapX 2020 Request for Extension of Schedule for Public Comments and Briefing on FEIS Adequacy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Again, send DEIS comments to:

raymond.kirsch@state.mn.us

fax: 651.539.0109

Ray Kirsch, Environmental Review Manager
Minnesota Department of Commerce
85 – 7th Place East, Suite 500

St. Paul, MN  55101-2198

Some issues that come to mind:

  • The DEIS should define “need.”
  • The DEIS should specify what capacity are they wanting, and what they want it for.  ITC claims that a lower voltage line “would be unable to provide enough capacity to improve reliability or support additional generation.” p. 49.  OK, so what capacity is that?
  • Every time the DEIS says “need,” it should change that to “want” or “desire.”  That would make it a lot easier to understand.
  • To the extent that it is claimed that this project is “to enable new wind” and “deliver existing and future wind generation” it must document how it is assured that wind is enabled/delivered, mindful that FERC specifies that transmission cannot discriminate and must serve all types of generation, and there’s a lot of coal coming in from the west.
  • The DEIS “Alternatives” section says “ITCM notes that the need for its project has been substantiated by its own studies and by those of MISO.”  Ummmm, the only option considered by ITCM and MISO is transmission, it’s a transmission-only company and a transmission operation, DUH!  “Additionally, MISO conducts studies to determine those projects that best meet identified transmisison needs.”  Oh, and those “identified transmission needs” are… ????
  • PROMOD modeling is ECONOMIC modeling.  Economic want, desire for profits, is not “need.”
  • There is a lot of surplus generation west of this project (see p. 48 of DEIS referencing “even more surplus generation that must be exported to regional load centers…”
  • “Different size” is not limited to “different voltage” and “different endpoints.”  For transmission, size = capacity.
  • The DEIS correctly states that “ITCM is an electric transmission company; it does not operate electrical generation plants or provide retail electric service.”  GOOD, that’s TRUE!  Now, what does that mean when considering how ITCM frames this project?
  • “In conclusion, while the 161 kV rebuild alternative may have potential for reduced human and environmental impacts, ITCM’s analysis indicates that it is less effective than a 345 kV line at meeting the need for the project.”  Ummm., SO?  What’s the state’s independent analysis?  Isn’t this what an EIS should be?

In the meantime, here’s the DEIS for review:

Draft Environmental Impact Statement Text

Appendices

 


previous page · next page