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Quick Take: We don't object to the feds saying "No" to a project if it's not right. But we do object to them taking four years and charging $14 million to say "well... maybe... we'll see." - By Jesse Berst

 

In the face of constant federal delays, South Dakota-based NorthWestern Energy has thrown up its hands and asked several government agencies to stop analyzing a proposed $1 billion, 430-mile transmission line from Montana to Idaho. The understandably frustrated company has spent more than $23 million over the past four years, $14 million which went to the government for studies. "We've called a timeout," NorthWestern spokesperson Claudia Rapkoch told the Montana Standard. "It's really because of a lack of cooperation with multiple federal agencies. We've been going along for years and counting delay after delay and are getting no closer."

 

In recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it was evaluating whether to continue. The latest roadblock came from the Bureau of Land Management. The agency ordered NorthWestern to propose alternative routes through southeastern Idaho to avoid sage grouse habitat. The requirement could add further delays and another 160 miles to the project. "We are funding these agencies and we're not getting a real sense of when this might get completed," Rapkoch said.

NorthWestern officials filed their original application in July 2008 for a 500-kilovolt transmission line to give Montana wind projects a way to reach markets in the West. The company had projected a completion date of mid-2013. The latest delays had pushed construction back to 2018 at the earliest.

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Jesse Berst is the founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News.com, the industry's oldest and largest smart grid site. A frequent keynoter at industry events in the U.S. and abroad, he also serves on advisory committees for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Institute for Electric Efficiency. He often provides strategic consulting to large corporations and venture-backed startups. He is a member of the advisory boards of GridGlo and Calico Energy Services.

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engineering diligence

Rather than tell the real story on the total cost of ownership and the return on investment, all I read is blame-game. Nurturing a collaborate effort necessary to create a new transmission path that is environmentally friendly and has public input on risk mitigation is very appropriare. The consumer confidence and enables more efficient execution. Let the engineers do their job rather than rush to deploy somethinyyg that ends up failing the consumer, costing them, as it always does.

Randy - 08/17/2012 - 08:30

RE:NWEnergy to Abandon

The story is quite a bit more complex than the first read. There have been "sage grouse habitat" plans and studies underway TEN YEARS before the transmission line was proposed. Updates in 1997 and 2006 if I remember correctly. It would have been easy for NWEnergy to reach out to the wildlife and various environmental stakeholders (see http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/wildlife/sageGrouse/) plus BLM before filing and choose possible routes that could have gone through the approval process faster. However we should not be surprised at at the time it takes for the various reviews - permits for building and development in general is taking longer. The catch 22 reason -- is as the economy has gotten worse - we prune back on the people that process the the reviews - which then adds to the frenzy and delays. In order to maintain even small staffs - permit fees are increased and we expect the various agencies to obtain their operating costs from the developers that is of course generally needed by the public. As for the need of the energy - the transmission line runs from Montana to Idaho, but the real users of the energy are not necessarily in Idaho. Those customers may be in California, Oregon, Washington and Nevada. All these states have signficant energy conservation plans and goals being put in place and also have their own plans for renewables. It is quite possible that the transmission grid would be increase capacity and not be necessary in the near term (10 years). That also makes the pay back questionable. I believe we've seen other articles on SGN about possible overbuilding of transmission lines as a result of the incentives given back in the mid 2000's. This transmission line may be one of the first to be cancelled because its payback doesn't work. And of course if Mitt's pledge to dump the renewables is true - the need for the line would be gone with the wind.

Dennis Heidner - 08/18/2012 - 12:54

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