Big Stone II remains a viable project
Fergus Falls, MN – May 12, 2008 –
The five Big Stone II participating utilities say they remain confident the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will approve their application for a transmission certificate of need, in spite of an unfavorable recommendation from two administrative law judges.
“Big Stone II is our customers' best generating opportunity from the standpoint of reliability, price and environmental responsibility,” said Ward Uggerud, senior vice president of Otter Tail Power Company, the Big Stone II lead developer. “To deny our application would sentence more than one million people in five states to the price escalations and volatility of natural gas, our next generating option.
“Additionally, without the proposed Big Stone II transmission, numerous transmission and wind generation projects throughout the region that are counting on this project will need to go back to the drawing board causing delays our region cannot afford. We are certain that when PUC commissioners review all the relevant testimony, they will agree that we have shown compelling need for Big Stone II,” he continued.
In their May 9 report and recommendations to the PUC, administrative law judges Steve Mihalchick and Barbara Neilson found the Big Stone II participants did not demonstrate sufficient need for Big Stone II and its associated transmission and that they did not adequately consider the impact of Minnesota energy conservation goals and use a realistic future cost of carbon dioxide emissions regulation.
“The judges failed to take into account that the Big Stone II participants are already proposing to do nation-leading levels of renewable energy and energy conservation,” Uggerud said. “In addition, we have agreed to offset 100 percent of carbon dioxide emissions attributable to Minnesota customers. What is missing in the ALJs' report and recommendations is, ‘What does the State see as the alternative to Big Stone II? What is their vision of meeting the growing needs of electricity customers across the state – other than the energy efficiency and renewable programs mandated by state law, which all Big Stone II participants have already factored into their plans.' Our projections show that solution will fall short by a considerable margin from meeting the projected needs of our customers.”
Uggerud noted that the regional power pool has forecasted that reserve generating capacity will disappear by 2011. He said the regional transmission operator has described the regional transmission grid as “severely deficient” and that Big Stone Transmission “integrates well with other regional transmission improvements.”
The PUC is expected to hear oral arguments on the Big Stone II certificate of need application in June 2008.
In addition to Otter Tail Power Company, other project participants are the Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, Heartland Consumers Power District, Missouri River Energy Services and Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. Together, these entities serve more than one million people in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Montana.
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