The Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved an agreement that grants a certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) to Ameren Transmission Co. of Illinois (ATXI) to build, operate and maintain a 345 kV electric transmission line from Palmyra, Mo., to the Iowa border and an associated substation in Kirksville, Mo.
The transmission line is known as the Mark Twain Transmission Line Project. The commission says it determined that the project is in the public interest, especially for the wind industry.
“The project is needed to integrate wind energy in Missouri and to assist Missouri public utilities in complying with Missouri’s renewable energy Standard,” the PSC says in a press release. “ATXI is qualified and financially able to build the project. The project is economically feasible because Ameren Missouri customers should receive benefits in excess of transmission charges. The project will likely lead to reductions in Missourians’ ultimate electric rates as compared to rates that would be paid without the project. Further, the project will generate significant property tax revenues for the counties through which the project will be built and will promote economic development in the region.”
The project is planned to go through the counties of Marion, Knox, Adair, Schuyler and Lewis, mostly via existing transmission easements owned by Northeast Missouri Electric Power Cooperative and Union Electric Co., d/b/a Ameren Missouri. ATXI submitted proof that all of those counties, as well as the City of Kirksville, Mo., assent to ATXI’s building the project.
