Studies and Reports > 2011
MN Biennial Report > Executive Summary
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Transmission
Projects Report 2011 |
Chapter 1: Executive Summary |
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pp. 1-3 |
1.0 Executive
Summary
The 2011
Biennial Report has been prepared pursuant to Minnesota Statutes
§ 216B.2425, which requires utilities that own or operate electric
transmission facilities in the state to report by November 1 of each odd
numbered year on the status of the transmission system, including present and
foreseeable inadequacies and proposed solutions.
This is
the sixth round of reports. Reports were filed in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007,
and 2009. All biennial reports are available on a webpage maintained by
the utilities specifically for the purpose of providing information about
transmission planning. That webpage is:
http://www.minnelectrans.com
This
Report is a joint effort of the Minnesota Transmission Owners – those
utilities that own or operate high voltage transmission lines in the state of
Minnesota. These utilities include the following:
American Transmission Company, LLC
Dairyland Power Cooperative
East River Electric Power Cooperative
Great River Energy
Otter Tail Power Company
Rochester Public Utilities
Southern Minnesota Municipal
Minnesota Power
Willmar Municipal Utilities
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Minnkota Power Cooperative
Missouri River Energy Services
Northern States Power Company
Hutchinson Utilities Commission
ITC Midwest LLC
L&O Power Cooperative
Marshall Municipal Utilities Power Agency
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A major
purpose of the Biennial Report is to provide information about all present and
reasonably foreseeable transmission inadequacies in the transmission system that have been identified. An “inadequacy” is
essentially a situation where the present transmission infrastructure is unable
or likely to be unable in the foreseeable future to perform in a consistently
reliable fashion and in compliance with regulatory standards. In
addition, the Biennial Report provides information about the transmission
planning process and about the utilities that own transmission lines in the
state.
The
following is a summary of each subsequent chapter of the 2011 Biennial
Report.
Chapter
2 describes
the biennial reporting requirements. This includes a discussion of the
specific information the Public Utilities Commission directed the utilities to
include in the 2011 Biennial Report.
Chapter
3 is
entitled Transmission Studies. A
lengthy table of studies that have been completed in the past two years is
included. Also, the utilities
describe a number of ongoing studies, both regional ones and load-serving
ones. Section 3.6 describes several
other studies that are underway.
Chapter
4 summarizes
the efforts the utilities have made to keep the public advised of ongoing
planning activities and transmission inadequacies. This chapter provides information on how
to keep advised of ongoing transmission planning activities by the utilities
and the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO). Because the Public Utilities Commission
has granted a variance from the requirement in the rules to hold a public
meeting in each transmission planning zone, there is
no summary of any such meetings. However, the utilities do report that a webinar will be held before the
end of 2011 to allow interested persons to learn about and comment upon the
2011 Biennial Report.
Chapter
5 provides
general information about the six transmission planning zones in the state:
the Northwest Zone, the Northeast Zone, the West Central Zone, the Twin Cities
Zone, the Southwest Zone, and the Southeast Zone. This chapter is
essentially identical to the information in the 2009 Report since the zones
have not changed.
Chapter
6 is
where all the transmission inadequacies are identified. The Report identifies well
over 100 separate inadequacies across the state. Each inadequacy is assigned a
Tracking Number. The Tracking Number reflects the year the inadequacy was
identified and the zone in which it is located.
In past
reports information about each Tracking Number was included in the Report
itself. This year, however, rather
than include complete information in the body of this Report about each
Tracking Number, references are provided to where the information can be found
in an annual report prepared by MISO, called the MISO Transmission Expansion Plan (MTEP) Report. The 2011 MTEP Report, for example, would be called MTEP11.
For each of
the transmission planning zones across the state, Chapter 6 provides a table
that cross-references each Tracking Number to a MTEP number and a MTEP Report
in which detailed information about the project described in the Tracking
Number can be found. The MTEP
Report referenced in the table will contain the kind of information about the
project, such as alternatives, costs, and a schedule, as was previously set
forth in the Biennial Report. Chapter 6 also presents comprehensive instructions on how to find on the
Internet the appropriate MTEP Report containing the desired information. The
utilities have also attempted to indicate whether a Certificate of Need (CON)
from the Public Utilities Commission might be required for a particular project
selected to address a named inadequacy.
Not all of
the reporting utilities that are participating in this Report are members of
MISO (the utilities that belong to MISO are identified in section 6.1), but
nearly every inadequacy that has been identified falls within the
responsibility of a utility that is a member. Therefore, there are only a couple of
inadequacies reported where complete information is included in this
Report. Of course, for those
Tracking Numbers that were reported in a previous
Biennial Report, that older Report can also be examined for information about a
particular Tracking Number.
Certain
projects have been completed since the 2009 Report was filed two years
ago. These completed projects are listed in a table in the discussion for
each zone in Chapter 6. Once a project has been completed and an
inadequacy addressed, the matter is closed and that particular Tracking Number
is no longer reported. The practice is to permanently close a matter only
after the selected alternative has been constructed and placed into
service. In a few cases, a project
has been moved to the completed table because a change in demand has eliminated
the inadequacy.
Chapter
7 focuses
on the 16 utilities that are jointly filing this report. A brief
description of each utility and the name and address of a contact person are
provided. Information provided in
the 2009 Report on miles of transmission line has been updated.
Chapter
8 provides an analysis of the utilities’ progress toward compliance with state
Renewable Energy Standards and the transmission needs that might be required to
assure compliance with upcoming RES milestones. Not all utilities that
own transmission lines are subject to the state Renewable Energy Standards, and
some utilities that are not required to participate in the Biennial Report must
meet the RES milestones. All
utilities subject to the RES participated in providing information for this
part of the report.
For the
past several reporting periods, and again this year at the direction of the
PUC, the utilities subject to the RES have provided a Gap Analysis. A Gap Analysis is an estimate of how
many more megawatts of renewable generating capacity a utility will require
beyond what is presently available to meet an upcoming RES milestone of a
certain percentage of retail sales from renewables. Generally, the Gap Analysis shows that
the utilities are in compliance with present standards and expect to have
enough generation and transmission to meet RES milestones through 2016,
although demands of neighboring states for renewable energy will undoubtedly
affect what resources will be required.
Upon receipt of this
Report, the Public Utilities Commission will solicit comments from the
Department of Commerce, interested parties, and the general public about the
Report. Any person interested in commenting on the Report or following
the comments of others, should check the efiling docket for this matter or in some other manner
contact the Public Utilities Commission. The Docket Number is E-999/M-11-445.
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