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Thumb
loop route should be finalized by early spring
11/18/2010
BY KATE HESSLING
Tribune Staff Writer
UPPER THUMB —
Transmission officials say the route of the new “Thumb Loop”
transmission line project will be finalized early next spring, at the
latest.
“We filed the route application with the
(Michigan Public Service Commission) MPSC, and they’re going through
the six-month process defined in Public Act 295 for expedited connection
transmission line siting for wind development,” ITC-Transmission
Senior Capital Communications Specialist Joe Kirik told the Tribune.
ITC Transmission’s application for an expedited
siting certificate for a transmission line is part of a process
established by Michigan’s Clean Renewable and Efficient Energy Act of
2008 (Public Act 295), in effort to facilitate future wind energy
development in Michigan. The law requires the creation of wind energy
zones and expedites transmission siting to facilitate wind energy
generation in those zones.
Following the law’s passage, the Michigan Wind
Energy Resource Zone Board (WERZ Board) identified four areas around
the state as potential wind energy zones. The four regions the board
identified as having the highest level of wind energy harvest potential
included Region 4 in the Thumb, which consists of parts of Huron, Bay,
Saginaw
, Sanilac and Tuscola counties.
Based on the WERZ Board’s final report, the MPSC
issued an order Jan. 27 accepting the board’s report and establishing
Region 4 as the “primary wind energy resource zone,” and designated
Region 1, which is located in
Allegan
County
, as an additional wind energy resource zone. Prior to that order, ITC
Transmission, Michigan Electric Transmission Company and Wolverine Power
Supply Cooperative, Inc. filed a joint report identifying the existing
transmission infrastructure and the new transmission infrastructure
necessary to deliver the maximum and minimum wind potential identified
by the WERZ Board in each of the four regions. In that report, it was
indicated extensive backbone transmission facilities would be required
to support the minimum and maximum wind potential in the Thumb region.
ITC proposed creating the Thumb Loop high-voltage
electric transmission line project to serve as the backbone transmission
system needed to deliver wind power from the Thumb area. The proposed
Thumb Loop project received approval from the Midwest Independent
Transmission System Operator (Midwest ISO) on Aug. 19.
Following that approval, ITC filed an application
with the MPSC requesting an expedited siting certificate to construct
the Thumb Loop transmission project, which includes a new 345 kV double
circuit tower line and four new substations, according to the
application ITC submitted to the MPSC Aug. 30.
“ ... ITC Transmission plans the construction of
a transmission line running from the southwest side of Michigan’s
Thumb region in Tuscola County to the northcentral area of the Thumb in
Huron County, then running south through Sanilac County and ending in
St. Clair County,” ITC’s Aug. 30 application states.
Two proposed routes
There currently are two routes that have been
submitted by ITC to the MPSC. The proposed route runs through the
following townships:
Tuscola
,
Denmark
, Gilford, Fairgrove,
Akron
,
Columbia
, Sebewaing,
Brookfield
, Winsor, Oliver, Colfax,
Verona
, Sigel,
Paris
,
Minden
, Wheatland, Custer,
Sandusky
,
Watertown
,
Washington
, Buel,
Fremont
,
Greenwood
, Kenockee,
Wales
and
Columbus
, and possibly a portion of the City of
Sandusky
.
The alternate transmission route submitted to the
MPSC runs through the following townships: Tuscola, Denmark, Juniata,
Fairgrove, Almer, Columbia, Elmwood, Elkland, Grant, Sheridan, Colfax,
Verona, Sigel, Bingham, Austin, Argyle, Moore, Custer, Sandusky,
Watertown, Elk, Speaker, Fremont, Greenwood, Kenockee, Wales and
Columbus, and possibly through the City of Sandusky.
Once the route is finalized and approved by the
MPSC, ITCTransmission will contact landowners along the route and begin
discussions about obtaining easements ITC needs for the line, Kirik
said.
The cost, local tax revenue
Kirik said ITC estimates the Thumb Loop project
will cost $510 million.
As to who will foot the bill, Midwest ISO in June
filed a proposed cost allocation methodology for new transmission
project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). If
approved, Multi Value Projects — which are transmission projects that
have a regional impact and are part of a regional plan — will have a
100 percent regional allocation of costs under the proposed methodology.
Jennifer
June, of the Midwest ISO, said the Thumb Loop
project is considered a Multi Value Project, and if FERC approves the
Multi Value Project cost allocation methodology, the cost of the Thumb
Loop project will be shared across the 13 states in the Midwest ISO
footprint. She said it’s expected FERC’s approval will come in
mid-December.
Kirik said ITC estimates the company will pay
several million dollars in property taxes in total every year for the
project’s 140 miles of lines and four substations.
The amount of taxes ITC will pay begins at 100
percent of assessed value, then depreciates 3 to 4 percent a year over
15 years, he said. The amount ITC pays in taxes will stop depreciation
at a minimum assessment of 50 percent.
Project timeline
The Thumb Loop most likely will be built in stages,
with a final completion date of 2015, Kirik said.
“We anticipate the first segment will be built on
the western side of the loop — from Tuscola to Huron (counties) —
(and that) could enter into service as early as late 2013,” he said.
“The remainder of it would be targeted for completion sometime in
2015.”
While the process of upgrading transmission
capabilities has been expedited to facilitate renewable energy projects,
so 10 percent of the state’s energy comes from renewable resources by
2015, the improved grid will be able to accommodate other sources of
energy generation.
Because ITC is a federally- regulated independent
transmission company, it has to be “generation and technologically
neutral,” meaning it has to provide all forms of generation access to
the grid, Kirik said.
“Gas, wind, solar, coal — whatever it may be
— we cannot and do not discriminate based on type of generation
transmission,” he said. “So it’s an open grid from our
standpoint.”
The Thumb Loop project will benefit the entire
area, Kirik said.
“It makes the system stronger and more reliable,
and it establishes more and better connections to other parts of the
grid,” he said. “ ... The higher the voltage, the more efficient the
system is. We have a lot of lines in
Michigan
at this voltage, so it’s a very common type of line for us. Again, it
helps strengthen the entire local and regional grid, which allows power
to flow more freely.”
Kate Hessling
• (989) 269-6461 • khessling@hearstnp.com
Web
Link>>
http://www.michigansthumb.com/articles/2010/11/18/news/local_news/doc4ce517cb2ffd2891661021.txt
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