Houston-based Clean Line Energy Partners says it has filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking negotiated rate authority for its Rock Island transmission project, a 500-mile overhead high-voltage direct-current transmission line that would run from northwest Iowa to an area near Morris, Ill.
According to Clean Line, the project would deliver 3.5 GW of wind energy in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota to Illinois and other states to the east.
If FERC grants Clean Line negotiated rate authority, it would allow the company to negotiate market-based rates with potential customers of the line – likely load-serving entities or wind developers. In the filing, Clean Line is seeking the authority to subscribe up to 75% of the line's capacity with anchor tenants, with unsubscribed capacity filled through an open-season process.
Additionally, the anchor tenants will receive guaranteed capacity outside of the competitive process; however, the same terms and pricing will be offered in the open season.
Clean Line also seeks a preference for renewable energy generation, such that when evaluating potential customers, one criterion that will be considered is whether the energy the customer plans to ship on the line is derived from renewable energy resources.
The Rock Island project is expected to achieve commercial operation in 2016 or 2017.
