The Plains & Eastern Clean Line electric transmission line project will deliver up to 3,500 megawatts (MW) of wind power from the Oklahoma Panhandle region, where it is abundant and inexpensive, to communities in Arkansas, Tennessee and other states in the Mid-South and Southeast, areas that lack access to new, low-cost, clean energy. In addition, an intermediate delivery converter station has been proposed in central Arkansas that would have the capacity to deliver up to 500 MW of power.
"Oklahoma boasts some of the best wind in the country. We are pleased to see this approval from FERC to subscribe up to 100% of the Plains & Eastern Clean Line’s capacity. We believe it is another important milestone towards developing Oklahoma’s low-cost clean energy resources, enabling new jobs, and growing economic development in our state and the nation," said Oklahoma Secretary of Energy and Environment Michael Teague.
Receiving this authority allows Clean Line to sell transmission capacity to potential customers of the project, including utilities and other load serving entities or clean energy generators. Generator interconnection to the Plains & Eastern will be subject to the requirements of the project’s open access transmission tariff. The Plains & Eastern Clean Line is estimated to enable more than $6 billion of investment in new wind farms. From May through July of 2014, Clean Line conducted an open solicitation for transmission capacity on the Plains & Eastern Clean Line. 15 potential customers submitted more than 17,000 MW of requests for transmission service.
Michael Skelly, President of Clean Line Energy said, "We thank the FERC commissioners and staff for reviewing and approving our application. This approval takes Clean Line a step closer to building clean energy transmission infrastructure for Arkansas, Tennessee and the Mid-South and Southeast." He continued by noting, "We are encouraged by the strong participation in our open solicitation process to sell capacity on the Plains & Eastern Clean Line and the strong commercial interest in the project."
Plains & Eastern Clean Line has a Memorandum of Understanding with TVA in place to identify the full range of benefits that high voltage direct current transmission projects may provide to TVA’s stakeholders and to explore non-discriminatory methods for TVA to utilize independent transmission as a means to improve system reliability, increase resource flexibility, and enhance the potential for the integration of renewables. TVA recently completed the System Impact Studies for Plains & Eastern Clean Line, which identified a means for the reliable interconnection of the project to the TVA transmission system. In resolutions passed unanimously, both Shelby County (TN) and the City of Memphis expressed support for the development, construction and operation of the Plains & Eastern Clean Line. They cited the investment in Western Tennessee and the potential to create a renewable energy hub in the Greater Memphis area as part of their reasoning.
The Plains & Eastern Clean Line project development team continues to be available to answer questions and provide information to the public and recently met with over 500 interested stakeholders at office hour meetings in 21 counties across Arkansas and Oklahoma. In addition, the Plains & Eastern Clean Line is undergoing an extensive federal environmental review under the National Environmental Review Policy Act (NEPA), led by the US Department of Energy (DOE), in coordination with the Southwestern Power Administration. Clean Line anticipates that an applicant proposed route and alternative routes will be published in the fourth quarter of 2014, concurrent with the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The DOE will hold public meetings following the release of the DEIS and solicit public comments. The DOE is expected to identify a preferred route for the project in 2015 with the release of the Final Environmental Impact Statement.
Skelly concluded by saying, "The Plains & Eastern Clean Line will provide Arkansans access to low-cost renewable energy with its proposed delivery converter station and will substantially increase the amount of clean energy in Tennessee and the greater Southeast. At Clean Line, we are encouraged to see processes moving forward such as the recent Entergy Request for Proposals for renewable resources. The seven potential customers that requested transmission service to Arkansas in our initial open solicitation process provide ample evidence to indicate that the Plains & Eastern Clean Line project will be a key player for transmission service in Arkansas."
