Studies
and Reports > 2009
MN Biennial Report > Requirements
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Transmission
Projects Report 2009 |
Chapter 2: Biennial
Report Requirements |
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pp. 4-8 |
2.0 Biennial
Report Requirements
2.1 The Statute
Minnesota Statutes § 216B.2425 requires any utility that owns or operates electric transmission lines in Minnesota to submit a transmission projects report to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission by November 1 of each odd numbered year. The Minnesota Legislature enacted Minnesota Statutes § 216B.2425 in 2001 as part of the Energy Security and Reliability Act. The law became effective on August 1, 2001.
The major purposes of the transmission planning requirement are to inform the public of transmission issues in the region and to enable regulators and the public to track development of solutions to these transmission issues. Another purpose of the statute is to expedite approval of projects that do not raise significant issues.
Minnesota Statutes § 216B.2425,
subd. 1, provides that the transmission
projects report must contain the following
information:
(1) |
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specific
present and reasonably foreseeable
future inadequacies in the transmission
system in Minnesota; |
(2) |
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alternatives
for addressing each alternative; |
(3) |
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general economic,
environmental, and social issues
associated with each alternative;
and |
(4) |
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a summary of
public input the utilities have
gathered related to the list
of inadequacies and the role
of local government officials
and other interested persons in
assisting to develop the list and
analyze alternatives. |
2.2
The PUC Rules
In June 2003 the Minnesota
Public Utilities Commission adopted rules
that govern the content of the transmission
projects report and established procedures
for reviewing the report. Those rules
are codified in Minnesota Rules chapter
7848.
Minn. Rules part 7848.1300
sets forth a list of categories of information
that must be included in a transmission
projects report.
Each biennial transmission
projects report, whether or not it seeks
certification of a high-voltage transmission
line, must contain at least the following
information:
A. |
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contact
person for each utility. |
B. |
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copy
of most recent regional load
and capability report of MAPP
or other regional reliability
council. |
C. |
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copy
of most recent regional transmission
plan produced by the appropriate
regional transmission organization. |
D. |
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list
of inadequacies currently affecting
reliability and list of reasonably
foreseeable future inadequacies
over next ten years. |
E. |
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list
of all alternative means of addressing
each inadequacy, including nontransmission
alternatives. |
F. |
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list
of studies that have been completed,
are in progress, or are planned
that are relevant to each of
the inadequacies identified. |
G. |
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general
description of the economic,
environmental, and social issues
raised by each alternative. |
H. |
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an
account of the measures taken
to gather public input and to
involve local government officials,
tribal government officials,
and other interested persons. |
I. |
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report
on the number of members of the
public who provided input. |
J. |
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report
on the number of local and tribal
government officials who provided
input. |
K. |
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list
and description of every transmission
project the utility considers
necessary now or in the next
ten years to remedy any transmission
inadequacies identified in the
report. |
L. |
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a
list and description of every
nontransmission project the utility
considers necessary now or in
the next ten years to remedy
any transmission inadequacies
identified in the report. |
M. |
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statement
as to whether the utility seeks
certification of any transmission
project or the time frame within
which it plans to file a certificate
of need application. |
N. |
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approximate
time frame for filing a certificate
of need application for any nontransmission
project identified as necessary. |
2.3
The PUC Order
The Minnesota Transmission
Owners submitted the 2007 Report on November
1, 2007. The Public Utilities Commission
afforded interested persons an opportunity
to submit comments regarding the completeness
of the Report. After considering all
comments that were filed, the Commission
issued its Order Accepting Reports, Requiring
Further Filings, and Setting Future Filing
Requirements on May 30, 2008. PUC Docket
No. E-999/M-07-1028.
One provision of the
Commission’s May 30, 2008 Order,
Ordering paragraph 8, directs the utilities
to address transmission issues related
to upcoming renewable energy milestones.
The Order states, “Future biennial
transmission projects reports shall incorporate
and address transmission issues related
to meeting the standards and milestones
of the new renewable energy standards
enacted at Minn. Laws 2007, ch. 3.” Chapter
3 is the 2007 Minnesota Renewable Energy
Act. Accordingly, Chapter 8 of this report
provides information responsive to the
Commission’s direction.
2.4
Reporting Utilities
Minnesota Statutes § 216B.2425
applies to those utilities that own or
operate electric transmission lines in
Minnesota. The PUC has defined the term “high
voltage transmission line” in its
rules governing the Biennial Report to
be any line with a capacity of 200 kilovolts
or more and any line with a capacity
of 100 kilovolts or more and that is
either longer than ten miles or that
crosses a state line. Minn. Rules part
7848.0100, subp. 5. Each of the entities
that are filing this report owns and
operates a transmission line that meets
the PUC definition. Information about
the utility and transmission lines owned
by each utility is provided in Chapter
7 of this Report. In addition, a contact
person for each utility is included in
Chapter 7.
The statute allows the
entities owning and operating transmission
lines to file this report jointly. The
Minnesota Transmission Owners have elected
each filing year to submit a joint report
and do so again with this report. The
utilities jointly filing this report
are:
- American Transmission
Company, LLC
- Dairyland Power Cooperative
- East River Electric
Power Cooperative
- Great River Energy
- Hutchinson Utilities
Commission
- ITC Midwest LLC
- L&O Power Cooperative
- Marshall Municipal
Utilities
- Minnesota Power
- Minnkota Power Cooperative
- Missouri River Energy
Services
- Northern States Power
Company d/b/a Xcel Energy
- Otter Tail Power Company
- Rochester Public Utilities
- Southern Minnesota
Municipal Power Agency
- Willmar Municipal
Utilities
2.5
Certification Requests
Minnesota Statutes § 216B.2425,
subd. 2, provides that a utility may
elect to seek certification of a particular
project identified in the Biennial Report.
According to subdivision 3, if the Commission
certifies the project, a separate Certificate
of Need (CON) under section 216B.243
is not required.
On May 29, 2009, the
Minnesota Transmission Owners advised
the Commission that there would be no
certification requests included with
the 2009 Biennial Report.
2.6
Past Biennial Reports
The 2009 Biennial Report
is the fifth such report filed by the
Minnesota Transmission Owners. All of
the Biennial Reports are available on
the webpage maintained by the utilities
at:
http://www.minnelectrans.com
In addition, for quick
reference the following table shows the
PUC Docket Number for each Biennial Report
and the date of the PUC Order accepting
and approving the report.
Biennial
Report |
PUC
Docket Number |
PUC
Order |
2009 |
E-999/M-09-602 |
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2007 |
E-999/M-07-1028 |
May
30, 2008 |
2005 |
E-999/TL-05-1739 |
May
31, 2006 |
2003 |
E-999/TL-03-1752 |
June
24, 2004 |
2001 |
E-999/TL-01-961 |
August
29, 2002 |
2.7
Renewable Energy Standards
The 2007 Biennial Report
included an entirely separate report
called the Renewable Energy Standards
Report, which was required by the Legislature
as part of the 2007 Renewable Energy
Act to be submitted to the Commission
by November 1, 2007. This requirement
was a one-time obligation and the 2009
Biennial Report does not include a separate
RES Report.
Notwithstanding that
there is no statutory requirement to
file an RES Report in 2009, there are
other obligations to report on activities
related to compliance with upcoming RES
milestones. Minnesota Statutes § 216B.2425 – the
statute requiring this report – provides
in subdivision 7 that each entity subject
to this statute must determine necessary
transmission upgrades to support development
of renewable energy resources required
to meet the Renewable Energy milestones
and include those in the biennial report.
Also, as described above in Section 2.3,
the Public Utilities Commission has ordered
the utilities to address transmission
issues related to the RES standards and
milestones in future biennial reports.
Accordingly, the utilities
that are subject to the RES have provided
in Chapter 8 of this report, information
describing the present situation with
renewables and what is estimated to be
required in the future to meet upcoming
RES milestones.
2.8
Distributed Generation
Another matter that is
addressed throughout this Report is the
issue of distributed generation. Minnesota
Statutes § 216B.2426 provides:
The Commission shall
ensure that opportunities for the installation
of distributed generation, as that term
is defined in section 216B.169, subdivision
1, paragraph (c), are considered in any
proceeding under section 216B.2422, 216B.2425,
or 216B.243.
Section 216B.169, subd.
1(c) defines “High-efficiency,
low-emissions, distributed generation” to
mean “a distributed generation
facility of no more than ten megawatts
of interconnected capacity that is certified
by the commissioner under subdivision
3 as a high-efficiency, low-emissions
facility.”
Distributed generation
has been considered in various ways.
In identifying and analyzing alternatives
to the inadequacies that have been listed
in the Report, the Minnesota Transmission
Owners describe whether distributed generation
is a possible alternative. For some Tracking
Numbers, such as providing an interconnection
for a new generation source, distributed
generation can quickly be taken off the
table. For others, a distributed generation
option requires additional study, and
more details will be provided at the
time a Certificate of Need or other authorization
is requested.
More significantly, the
Minnesota Transmission Owners, working
closely with the Department of Commerce
and other stakeholders, and at the direction
of the Minnesota Legislature, has completed
two studies looking at the possibility
of injecting first 600 MW of dispersed
renewable generation into the transmission
grid, and then, as a Phase II study,
another 600 MW of renewable generation.
Phase I (the first 600 MW) was completed
in June 2008 and Phase II (a second 600
MW) was completed on September 15, 2009.
For further reference
the reader is referred to the White Paper
on Distributed Generation, which the
Minnesota Transmission Owners completed
in February 2006 and submitted to the
Public Utilities Commission. The White
Paper is available on the PUC edockets
webpage under the 051739 Docket Number
at:
https://www.edockets.state.mn.us/EFiling/ShowFile.do?DocNumber=2757788
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