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Big Stone participants pass major hurdle
Published 12:00pm Friday, August 17, 2007Minnesota administrative law judges have recommended that the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) approve a transmission certificate of need and routing permit for Big Stone II, planned by Otter Tail Power Company and six other participants.
The certificate of need is necessary for the participants to construct new and upgraded transmission facilities in Minnesota. The transmission facilities will help deliver power from the planned Big Stone II power plant and the existing Big Stone Unit 1 located near Milbank in northeastern South Dakota.
Project participants will need to build or upgrade approximately 140 miles of transmission line — with about 110 miles in Minnesota and the remainder in South Dakota. Six new or upgraded substations will also be needed.
The seven companies, which serve more than 2.3 million, include Otter Tail Power, Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, Great River Energy, Heartland Consumers Power District, Missouri River Energy Services, Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. and Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency.
The Big Stone transmission facilities, along with other planned transmission projects, will also help accommodate additional renewable energy development in western Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas.
The administrative law judges agreed with the participants’ load forecasts and acknowledged that future electric load could not be fully satisfied by conservation measures and renewable energy. They also said that Big Stone II is the participants’ least-cost option for baseload electricity.
The recommendation to the PUC follows testimony of about 50 witnesses during the December 2006 certificate of need hearings in St. Paul. Witnesses on all sides of the issue participated.
The recommendation is not binding on the PUC. However, Otter Tail Power Company and other Big Stone II participants feel it will be given careful consideration.
The Big Stone II project, and its related transmission, is an alliance of investor-owned utilities, municipal electric utilities and electric cooperatives that have joined together to meet the growing electricity needs of their customers.
The proposed power plant, to be constructed on the site of the existing Big Stone Plant near Milbank, is proposed by the participants as a highly efficient, environmentally responsible 630-megawatt coal-fired plant. Big Stone I is rated at 450 megawatts. The transmission project will include upgrades and new construction of power lines, substations, and other infrastructure.
Big Stone II would come on line in 2011 and help meet what Otter Tail Power Company and its six partners see as regional customers’ increasing energy needs in a low-cost, environmentally responsible manner.
