Clean Line Energy Partners LLC has announced the sale of its non-transmission development assets – including interests in a 600 MW wind project and a series of other wind and battery storage developments – to Quantum Energy Partners, a provider of private equity capital to the global energy industry.
Clean Line will retain its existing transmission assets. Notably, the announcement comes on the heels of another important milestone for Clean Line and the effort to build interstate transmission lines: This month, the Missouri Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) has clear authority to determine the public need for transmission lines in Missouri. The ruling overturned a lower court verdict that suggested that transmission lines needed to be sited on a county-by-county basis.
“We continue to prove the thesis that building new infrastructure is key to getting more renewable energy to market,” says Michael Skelly, chairman of Clean Line Energy. “With the recent sale of our non-transmission assets to Quantum, as well as the sales of our Plains & Eastern project, Mesa Canyons Wind Farm and Western Spirit project, a core team at Clean Line Energy is now solely dedicated to advancing the Grain Belt Express project.”
According to Clean Line Energy, the court’s ruling clearly stated Missouri law “does not purport to give counties the authority to stand in the shoes of the commission in determining whether a proposed utility project is in the public interest of the state or whether a utility should be granted a [certificate of convenience and necessity].”
The Missouri PSC previously determined that the Grain Belt Express is in the state’s best interest because it would save Missourians more than $10 million annually on their electric bills, create thousands of jobs and provide millions in taxes to local communities into perpetuity, says Clean Line, which is is now turning its efforts to expediting approval from the Missouri PSC.
