The Brookings transmission line, a major piece of the CapX2020 project, has been pegged for Multi-Value Project (MVP) status by the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO).
Achieving MVP status will make the Brookings line eligible for regional cost-sharing, whereby the costs associated with the project will be allocated among all stakeholders in the MISO footprint. Because the line will deliver ‘multi-value,’ the expense of the project will be borne by multiple entities.
The Brookings line is just one of several transmission projects that MISO is considering for MVP status. In turn, the grid operator's board of directors granted ‘conditional approval’ of the designation. Once the board completes its analysis of the entire MVP project portfolio – which is expected this fall – official approval of the Brookings line will be formalized.
The 345 kV line will begin at a substation north of Brookings, S.D., and run 237 miles to a proposed substation in Hampton, Minn., which is southeast of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The new infrastructure will interconnect up to 2 GW of wind power from remote areas west of the Twin Cities.
‘The Brookings project provides much-needed access for the wind-rich areas of the Dakotas, which furthers the region's transition to new, more efficient and cleaner generation and creates portability for those resources,’ Clair Moeller, MISO's vice president of transmission asset management, said in a statement.
‘This, in turn, allows the states involved to economically meet their renewable energy goals at the least cost,’ he added.
